FA  T  R  PT  AY 

FOR.  THE 
WORKERS 

PERCT'STICKNET-GRANT 


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FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE   WORKERS 


FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE 
WORKERS 


SOME  SIDES  OF  THEIR  MALADJUST- 
MENT AND  THE  CAUSES 


BY 

PERCY  STICKNEY  GRANT 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

1919 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 


&1 


Published   September,   1918 


TO 

THOMAS  L.  CHADBOURNE 

Member  and  Counsellor  of  the  War  Trade  Board 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Tom, 

When  the  British  Munition  Commission  were  in  New  York  last 
fall,  they  were  given  a  luncheon  at  the  McAlpin,  by  Mayor  Mitch- 
el's  Committee  on  National  Defense,  of  which  you  were  Chairman. 
At  the  luncheon  Sir  Stephenson  Kent,  K.C.B.,  Chairman  of  the 
British  Mission,  declared:  "If  Great  Britain  had  had  the  trouble 
with  labor  America  is  having,  it  icould  have  lost  the  war." 

A  working  agreement  between  capital  and  labor  for  the  pro- 
duction of  munitions  does  not  settle  their  controversy.  Labor 
in  Oreat  Britain  has  been  very  loyal  to  its  agreements;  yet 
Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  on  February  1,  1918,  could  say  that 
the  condition  of  labor  in  Great  Britain  was  dangerous.  Some- 
thing more  than  a  truce  is  essential  even  in  war  time  for  indus- 
trial efficiency. 

As  a  war-time  measure  such  knowledge  and  sympathy  as  will 
bring  the  two  sides  of  our  industrial  life  most  completely  together 
are  necessary  for  national  success.  The  present  volume  is  an  at- 
tempt to  put  before  conservatives  some  of  the  positions  of  labor, 
from  the  historical  point  of  view. 

You  have,  perhaps,  seen  some  of  the  material  of  this  volume  in 
the  North  American  Review  and  in  a  book  of  mine,  called  "  So- 
cialism and  Christianity." 

May  I  finally  say  that  I  put  your  name  in  the  front  of  this 
book  as  an  expression  of  my  admiration.  You  are  a  sort  of 
superman  of  size  and  sympathy — the  biggest  thing  I  know 
physically,  and  also  one  of  the  few  men  of  means  icilling  to 
discuss  the  labor  question  on  its  merits — that  is,  without  ani- 
mosity. Upon  the  extension  of  this  spirit,  in  my  opinion,  de- 
pend the  future  peace  and  safety  of  our  country. 

You  are  fond  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  I  am  sure  you  unll 
recall  the  following  quotation  from  "  The  Progress  of  Culture." 

"  When  classes  are  exasperated  against  each  other,  the  pea>ee 
of  the  world  is  always  kept  by  striking  a  neio  note." 
Sincerely  yours, 

.  .       r,    *  PERCY  STICKNEY   GRANT. 

Ascension  Rectory 

New  York 

March,  1918 


"  The  real  question  everywhere  is  whether  the  world,  distracted 
and  confused  as  everybody  sees  that  it  is,  is  going  to  be  patched 
up  and  restored  to  what  it  used  to  be,  or  whether  it  is  going 
forward  into  a  quite  new  and  different  kind  of  life,  whose  exact 
nature  nobody  can  pretend  to  foretell,  but  which  is  to  be  dis- 
tinctly new,  unlike  the  life  of  any  age  which  the  world  has  seen 
already.  ...  It  is  impossible  that  the  old  conditions,  so 
shaken  and  broken,  can  ever  be  repaired  and  stand  just  as  they 
stood  before.  The  time  has  come  when  something  more  than 
mere  repair  and  restoration  of  tlie  old  is  necessary.  The  old 
must  die  and  a  new  must  come  forth  out  of  its  tomb." 

Phillips  Bbooks, 
Sermon,  "  The  Light  of  the  World." 


PREFACE 

The  most  unexpected  result  of  the  war  is, 
perhaps,  the  enlarged  influence  of  the  working- 
classes, — an  influence  that  after  the  war  seems 
likely  to  increase.  The  people  have  recently 
emerged  to  new  power  in  many  countries, — in 
China,  in  Russia,  in  Mexico,  in  Great  Britain, 
which  is  anxiously  arranging  for  labor  and  gov- 
ernment to  proceed  in  closer  accord,  in  India, 
to  which  Great  Britain  has  sent  a  commission 
to  prepare  for  some  degree  of  native  independ- 
ence. Labor  organizations  in  several  countries 
communicated  with  each  other  in  efforts  to  pre- 
vent war,  or,  since,  to  secure  peace.  A  proposi- 
tion by  Socialists  to  hold  a  conference  in  Stock- 
holm was  considered  important  enough  to  be 
discouraged  by  che  Allied  Governments.  The 
United  States  has  appealed  to  the  German  people, 
over  the  heads  of  their  rulers,  and  welcomes  any 
sign  of  a  revolutionary  spirit.  The  President  left 
Washington  in  war  time  to  attend  a  convention 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  at  Buffalo. 
Labor  committees  from  Great  Britain  have  visited 
us.  The  proletariat  of  most  of  the  countries  have 
taken  a  new  part  in  war  discussion  and  look  for- 
ward to  signal  influence  at  the  peace  councils. 
This  coming  to  the  front  of  the  workers  of  the 
world  is  the  important  news  of  our  times. 


viu  PREFACE 

The  day  of  the  proletariat  has  arrived,  but 
America  is  not  ready.  I  do  not  mean  that 
anarchy,  or  even  Socialism,  is  knocking  at  the 
door,  or  that  plutocracy  is  packing  up.  A  new 
and  commanding  influence  to  be  exerted  by  the 
working-class  has  arisen.  America  is  unpre- 
pared to  meet  the  situation  because  it  has  failed, 
on  the  whole,  to  grasp  the  profounder  concerns 
of  the  people's  hopes  and  has  given  aristocratic 
status  to  its  successful  classes. 

The  object  of  this  volume  is  to  call  attention  to 
some  of  the  consequences  of  our  blindness  to  the 
world's  deeper  democratic  activities  and  to  the 
dawn  of  proletarian  control.  A  review  of  a  few 
subjects  upon  which  the  working-people  have 
strong  opinions,  not  well  understood  outside  their 
class,  may  facilitate  our  passage  from  before-war 
to  after-war  times  when  labor  will  undoubtedly 
expect  to  exercise  larger  powers. 

One  reason  for  our  plutocratic  type  of  de- 
mocracy is  to  be  found  in  our  religious  and 
economic  conservatism.  Professor  Ross  discov- 
ers **will"  to  be  the  profoundest  character- 
istic of  the  American  colonists.  American  re- 
ligion, politics,  business,  athletics  are  still  run 
by  **wiir'  and  its  **get  there''  representatives. 
But  something  more  is  necessary  than  will,  as, 
for  instance,  science  and  sympathy.  The  time 
has  come  for  America  to  create  a  new  will  com- 
pacted of  knowledge  and  love  as  well  as  of  dogged 
resolution. 


PREFACE  ix 

So  it  comes  about  that  the  real  tragedy  of 
American  life  is  that  while  we  live  in  the  midst 
of  optimistic  facts  we  are  governed  by  inher- 
ited pessimistic  theories: — Calvin's  depravity  of 
human  nature;  Malthus*  theory  that  man  is  too 
prolific  for  nature;  Adam  Smith's  laissez  faire 
economics,  with  selfishness  as  a  stabilizer  of 
industry.  Our  job  is  to  jettison  these  Jonahs 
and  to  catch  up  with  present  reality. 

Besides  our  inherited  pessimism  as  observed  in 
religious  and  political  motives,  the  generation  that 
came  over  into  the  twentieth  century  was  in- 
fluenced by  the  pessimism  of  some  of  its  greatest 
poets.  Swinburne 's  incomparable  lyricism  never- 
theless yielded  a  depressing  picture  of  man : 

* '  A  silent  soul  led  of  a  silent  God, 
Toward  sightless  things  led  sightless.'' 

Even  Matthew  Arnold  got  no  further  than  to 
cry  out  bitterly : 

**But  now  the  old  is  out  of  date, 
The  new  is  not  yet  born." 

Now  the  new  is  born  and  events  are  neither 
*  *  silent ' '  nor  * '  sightless. ' '  The  day  of  the  people 
has  come :  clarion  voices  proclaim  it. 

We  have  not  dreamed  what  can  be  done 
to  prevent  human  woe.  **  Prevention "  must 
be  as  signal  a  word  as  *^ Salvation"  has  been. 
** Alleviation,"  the  aim  of  so  many  religious  and 
kindly  people,  is  a  timid  and  hopeless  word. 
Again,  we  have  been  pessimistic.     **  Human  life 


X  PREFACE 

must  be  some  kind  of  a  mistake/'  says  Schopen- 
hauer. Not  a  bit  of  it,  but  man  had  made  the 
mistake  of  accepting  his  miseries  as  essential  to 
existence  and  therefore  permanent,  or  as  the  mys- 
terious will  of  overruling  supernatural  powers. 

The  optimistic  facts  of  life  revealed  to  our 
generation  are  staggering  in  their  splendor. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  statement  of  the  warden 
of  the  Colorado  State  Penitentiary.  **In  my 
judgment  60  per  cent,  of  the  sane,  able-bodied 
men  now  confined  in  the  penal  institutions,  both 
State  and  Federal,  of  the  United  States,  are 
trustworthy,  and  if  properly  handled  can  be 
made  available  for  work  anywhere  in  the  United 
States.  Our  experience  in  handling  honor  men 
at  the  Colorado  State  Penitentiary  proves  this 
beyond  question.  Of  course,  there  are  the  other 
40  per  cent,  who  are  mentally  defective  and 
truly  dangerous  from  whom  society  must  pro- 
tect itself. '' 

Or,  turn  to  the  subject  of  industrial  accident, 
where  it  has  been  thought  that  the  human  element 
was  possibly  more  responsible  than  any  other  and 
could  not  be  controlled. 

**  Spend  enough  upon  the  engineering  problems 
and  serious  and  fatal  accidents  will  be  very  largely 
eliminated.  What  is  the  limit  of  reduction  in 
severe  and  fatal  cases?  The  possibilities  of  im- 
provement in  physical  conditions  ace  almost  un- 
limited. It  is  possible  to  conceive  industry  con- 
ducted under  conditions  so  safe  that  the  occur- 


PREFACE  xi 

rence  of  severe  injury  will  excite  the  same  surprise 
that  its  absence  now  does.''  * 

Two-thirds  of  the  insane  in  the  country  need 
not  have  been  insane.  One-half  the  sick  in  the 
country  need  never  have  been  brought  to  their 
beds.  Much  of  what  we  have  called  crime  is 
found  to  be  due  to  physical  and  mental  defects, 
and  of  the  300,000  defectives  in  the  country,  per- 
haps one-half  of  them  can  be  greatly  improved. 
Psychotherapy,  as  seen  in  Christian  Science,  the 
Emmanuel  Movement,  Psychoanalysis,  and  in 
other  mental  healing,  has  opened  a  sunlit  door. 
The  ancestry  of  many  of  the  fears  and  supersti- 
tions which  worry  and  weaken  human  nature  is 
now  so  plainly  revealed  that  they  should  be  easily 
removed.  The  power  of  environment  is  discerned 
with  increasing  and  fresh  illustration.  For  in- 
stance, the  Insurance  Act  in  England  is  not  meet- 
ing full  expectations  because  whatever  may  be  the 
better  medication  or  sanitorium  treatment  of  the 
sick  poor,  they  have  to  return  to  housing  and 
neighborhood  conditions  that  largely  undo  the 
result  of  their  medical  treatment,  while  the  agri- 
cultural laborers  of  England,  whatever  their  eco- 
nomic misfortunes,  are  physically  the  best. 

Speaking  of  modern  welfare  work  Jane  Addams 
says:  **The  moral  basis  of  all  these  movements 
is  the  excellence  of  human  nature  under  decent 
conditions.''    captain  F.  J.  Moore,  writing  to  the 

*  Monthly  Review  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, 
August,  1917,  p.  15. 


xii  PREFACE 

London  Nation  about  religion  in  the  trenches, 
says  that  the  war  has  revealed  to  the  world  at 
large,  and  not  least  to  the  men  themselves,  that 
goodness,  and  not  evil,  is  the  ** original' '  thing  in 
human  nature.  **No  matter  how  they  drink  or 
how  they  swear,  or  whatever  they  do,  there  is  a 
nobler  self  beneath  it  all  capable  of  a  sacrifice 
like  the  cross.''  The  Literary  Digest  (Septem- 
ber 15,  1917)  sums  it  up:  ** Original  sin  has  been 
replaced  by  original  goodness."     (Exit  Calvin.) 

Professor  Patten  proves  that  we  are  living  in  a 
surplus,  not  in  a  deficit  civilization.  Lester  Ward 
shows  that  production  increases  as  the  square  of 
the  hands  employed.     (Exit  Malthus.) 

We  find  that  changed  social  ideas  produce 
changed  economic  theories.  In  our  time,  demo- 
cratic common  sense  is  deciding  that  human  per- 
sonality must  be  built  up,  not  destroyed,  by  eco- 
nomic processes ;  that  wages  must  serve  individual 
welfare  and  social  need.  (Exit  Adam  Smith. 
Enter  Jesus.) 

In  the  midst  of  this  optimism  of  fact,  this  opu- 
lence and  self-curing  power  of  nature,  how  pitiable 
those  lugubrious  but  convenient  economic  theories 
by  which  men  strengthen  themselves  in  tyrannies 
over  their  fellows  or  justify  riding  upon  their 
backs!  **Life,''  says  Nietzsche,  *4s  that  which 
must  ever  surpass  itself."  May  I  dare  to  offer 
as  the  method  by  which  life  is  able  to  surpass 
itself,  the  impulse  to  clarity — to  know  the  mean- 
ing of  things — as  the  pledge  of  progress. 


CONTENTS 


PAOB 


Preface vii 

I    Domestic     Problems     and    Foreign 

War 3 

II    The  Worker  *s  Lost  Status  and  His 

Unrest 17 

III  The  Working-man  and  Patriotism  .       47 

IV  The    Americanizing    of    the    Immi- 

grant Worker 61 

V    Physical    Betterment — the    Func- 
tion OF  THE  State      ....       79 
VI    Administration  of  the  Law  and  the 

Worker 105 

VII    Unjust  Laws  and  How  to  Remedy 

Them 129 

VIII    Are  Rich  Americans  Aiding  Ameri- 
canization!   161 

IX    The  Waste  of  Ignorance  and  Com- 
petition         187 

X    Mental  Adjustment   Through   Or- 
ganized Efforts  for  Free  Speech    207 
XI    The    Economic    Influence    of    Re- 
ligion      233 

XII    Labor  Organization  and  Its  Influ- 
ence ON  Our  Problems    .       .       .     257 
XIII    The   Cure   for   Democracy — *^More 

Democracy'' 289 

XrV    What  the  Working-men  Want — In- 
dustrial Self-Government     .       .     309 

Appendlx 337 

Bibliography 364 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS   AND 
FOREIGN  WAR 


"Great  economic  and  social  forces  flow  with  tidal  sweep  over 
communities  only  half  conscious  of  that  which  is  befalling  them. 
Wise  statesmen  are  those  who  foresee  what  time  is  thus  bring- 
ing, and  try  to  shape  institutions  and  to  mould  men's  thought 
and  purpose  in  accordance  with  the  change  that  is  silently  sur- 
rounding them." 

Viscount  Morley's  Recollections,  Vol.  I.,  p.  143. 

"  There  are  two  aims  that  to  my  mind  should  be  steadily  kept 
in  view,  and  constantly  applied  as  crucial  tests  to  all  schemes 
and  proposals  which  deal  with  reconstruction.  They  sound  com- 
monplace enough,  but  they  go  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  The 
first  is  that  we  shall  need  a  largely  increased  production  year 
by  year  of  national  wealth.  The  second  that  we  must  see  to  it 
that  as  among  the  producers  there  is  a  fairer  distribution  of 
the  yield." 

Mr.  Asquith's  War -Aims  Speech,  December  11,  1917. 


CHAPTER  I 

DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  AND 
FOREIGN  WAR 

ONE  of  the  significant  cartoons  produced  by 
our  declaration  of  war  represents  Uncle 
Sam,  in  the  costume  of  a  frontiersman,  taking 
down  from  over  the  chimney-piece  his  musket  and 
powderhorn,  as  he  remarks:  **Gosh!  I  had  so 
many  other  things  to  do!*' 

These  ** other  things'*  are  home  things — Uncle 
Sam's  dream  of  domestic  happiness;  for  he  has 
near-by  and  pressing  matters,  has  Uncle  Sam, 
which  concern  the  prosperity  and  contentment  of 
his  people. 

Perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  the  exodus  of  the 
negroes  from  the  South  that  in  volume  and  eco- 
nomic moment  may  rank  with  the  great  migra- 
tions of  history. 

Or,  he  may  have  been  brooding  on  the  battle 
raging  in  San  Francisco  between  the  labor  unions 
and  the  business  interests  with  their  $1,000,000 
war  fund — a  conflict  illuminated  by  the  threat  of 
the  workers  that  labor  leaders  condemned  to  death 
shall  not  die. 

Uncle  Sam  may  have  had  in  mind  his  neglected 

8 


4         FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

farms,  ^' Where  four-fifths  of  the  area  of  the  large 
holdings,"  one  of  his  commissions  tells  him,  *^is 
being  kept  out  of  use  by  their  50,000  large  owners, 
while  2,250,000  farmers  are  struggling  for  a  mere 
existence  on  farms  of  less  than  fifty  acres,'*  and 
only  a  little  over  half  of  the  land  on  farms  is 
improved. 

Or,  was  Uncle  Sam  worrying  about  a  wasteful 
nation  going  to  war,  adding  military  destruction 
to  its  economic  destruction  which  is  equal  annu- 
ally to  the  capital  of  all  its  banks  ? 

Did  he  have  before  his  eyes  the  vision  of  addi- 
tions to  his  huge  list  of  incapacitated — before  the 
war  a  daily  **sick  list''  of  three  million  out  of 
which  come  half  the  outcries  of  American  des- 
titution ? 

Without  doubt  the  race  question,  the  labor 
question,  the  land  question,  conservation  and  the 
health  question,  are  some  of  the  ** other  things" 
that  war  seemed  at  first  glance  to  postpone. 

Not  only  do  home  matters  slide  out  of  minds 
absorbed  in  the  war  zone;  but  patriotic  citizens 
feel  that  domestic  problems  ought  to  be  forgotten 
during  the  war  as  a  measure  of  the  nation's  sac- 
rifice and  also  as  a  means  of  necessary  concen- 
tration for  overseas  success. 

But  we  cannot,  if  we  would,  leave  our  domestic 
problems  behind  us  when  we  join  our  allies.  What 
we  are  in  Europe  depends  upon  what  we  are  in 
America.  A  foreign  war  reveals  domestic  weak- 
nesses.    Every  man  on  the  firing-line  requires 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  5 

from  four  to  six  persons  behind  the  firing-line 
to  keep  him  supplied.  The  army  is  the  whole  peo- 
ple. If  we  forget  or  postpone  home  problems  we 
become  bad  soldiers  in  the  field. 

The  fact  is  that  during  the  war  we  must  pay- 
more  attention  than  ever  to  home  conditions. 
Every  fighting  nation  has  been  weakened  by  labor 
difficulties,  and  has  found  itself  forced  to  deal 
inopportunely  with  the  most  fundamental  social 
and  economic  questions.  By  anticipating  the 
claims  of  our  own  internal  problems  we 
may  save  ourselves  fatal  weakness  in  a  world 
crisis. 

Without  a  positive  social  polity,  we  shall,  at 
any  rate,  be  the  victims  of  reactionary  attack. 
Already  under  the  guise  of  war-need  the  old  crew 
which  fruitlessly  fought  liberal  laws  have  be- 
sieged legislatures  to  destroy  recent  safeguards 
thrown  around  the  workers.  The  hours  of  labor 
for  men,  women,  and  children  are  attacked;  the 
length  of  the  school  year;  the  full  crew  bill;  the 
La  Follette  Seaman's  Act.  In  the  State  of  New 
York  by  the  permissive  shortening  of  the  school 
year  the  Empire  State  actually  mobilized  child 
labor  before  it  mobilized  its  army. 

Gains  in  social  legislation  must  not  be  lost ;  they 
are  national  assets,  not  class  advantages ;  they  are 
*^good  business.''  For  the  labor  question  is  not 
merely  an  irritating  militancy  between  employer 
and  employee,  in  which  the  worker  occasionally 
wins  privileges — recovered  perhaps  later  by  the 


6        FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

bosses — but  having  no  permanent  public  signifi- 
cance, no  general  gain  or  loss. 

The  labor  question  is  concerned  with  human 
conservation  and  race  effectiveness.  The  triumph 
of  labor  is  the  triumph  of  humanity  in  its  very 
flesh  and  blood.  A  relapse  now  in  labor  legisla- 
tion is  war's  home  harvest  in  flesh  and  blood — 
war's  preventable  losses  behind  the  firing-line. 
Consequently,  any  retreat  during  the  time  of  war 
into  older  and  restricted  economic  usages,  is  not 
only  a  matter  of  dangerous  precedent  to  labor — 
the  setting  aside  perhaps  for  years  of  its  hard- 
won  verdict — but  it  is  a  dangerous  prerogative 
resumed  by  capital  upon  an  utter  misunderstand- 
ing of  the  labor  problem. 

Centralization  Demands  Transformation 

There  are  other  reasons  why  during  the  war  we 
cannot  escape  the  consideration  of  domestic  prob- 
lems. The  centralization  necessary  in  war  time 
for  intensive  national  life  means  automatically 
much  domestic  transformation,  especially  in  an 
individualistic  country  like  America.  To  accom- 
plish successfully  this  socializing  of  our  citizens 
will  demand  sympathetic  and  profound  study  of 
the  domestic  situation.  Secretary  Lane's  remark 
to  coal  operators  in  Washington,  in  June,  1917, 
is  not  to  American  ears  axiomatic  and  will  require 
elucidation  and  cogitation.  **To  be  an  American 
citizen  today  is  not  to  have  the  right  to  make  a 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  7 

million  dollars,  but  the  right  to  live  up  to  the 
demands  of  democratic  ideals,  and  to  sacrifice 
for  it.'' 

Shall  we  not  also  discover  like  the  other  fighting 
nations  that  the  minds  of  the  soldiers  at  the  front 
turn  backward  upon  the  domestic  situation?  They 
have  time  in  the  trenches  to  think.  Their  thought 
on  the  whole  has  been  revolutionary.  The  men 
who  are  fighting  in  France  are  asking  searching 
questions  about  religion,  politics,  business — about 
their  own  futures, — which  forebode  social  recon- 
struction. They  are  revolving  fundamental  prob- 
lems. Such  mental  ferment  among  the  soldiers 
themselves,  prophesies  domestic  change. 

Two  of  our  allies,  Russia  and  France,  are  prob- 
ably more  advanced  than  we  are  in  democratic 
ideals.  A  new  light  upon  home  problems  is  likely 
to  dawn  upon  American  soldiers  when  they  learn 
from  observation  the  radical  economic  views  of 
the  French,  to  say  nothing  of  the  more  influential 
political  position  held  by  the  English  working- 
classes.  Our  armies  will  return  home  more  criti- 
cal of  our  way  of  doing  things  than  when  they 
left  our  shores.  Won't  it  be  well  for  us — the 
home-stayers — to  try  to  keep  pace  in  our  devel- 
opment with  the  men  at  the  front! 

There  is  also  the  reflex  action  upon  industrial 
and  political  organization  of  the  new  relationship 
between  officers  and  men  in  our  proposed  gigantic 
armies — a  more  democratic  relationship.    In  the 


8         FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

English  army  Donald  Hankey  saw  a  new  democ- 
racy developed  from  the  confidence  that  officers 
and  men  learned  to  have  in  each  other.  He  be- 
lieved that  a  better  spirit  between  employers  and 
employees  will  be  produced  as  a  result  of  this  war- 
time experience.  The  ordinary  labor  conditions 
in  which  the  employer  complains  of  his  men  as 
being  ungrateful  and  the  men  are  suspicious  .of 
their  employers  as  being  exploiters,  may  be  modi- 
fied in  the  future  by  a  new  human  relationship 
of  mutual  sympathy  and  dependence,  like  the  con- 
fidence and  pride  felt  for  each  other  by  officers 
and  men  in  the  face  of  a  powerful  enemy. 

Schooled  by  war  this  new  working  democracy 
which  embodies  discipline  and  authority,  which 
at  all  hazards  must  create  efficiency,  mutual  help, 
and  high  spirit,  may  make  a  decided  contribution 
to  the  industrial  peace  of  the  future  when  armies, 
so  inspired,  are  again  scattered  through  the 
nation's  economic  organization. 

America  Is  in  the  Rapids  of  Social  Revolution 

But  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  marshal  reasons 
for  paying  special  attention  during  the  war  to 
domestic  conditions,  as  though  what  is  done  in 
America  depended  upon  argument.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  social  revolution  has  overtaken  the  do- 
mestic affairs  of  the  warring  nations.  Mr. 
Stephen  McKenna,  nephew  of  the  former  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  said  in  an  interview  in 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  9 

New  York  the  middle  of  May,  1917 :  **  England  has 
had  changes  amounting  in  effect  to  a  social  revolu- 
tion as  the  result  of  the  war  and  America  will 
probably  experience  much  the  same  thing.'' 

America  by  going  to  war  has  entered  the  rapids 
of  social  revolution  and  must  eventually  come  out 
into  the  intense  liberalism  of  awakening  Europe. 
Who  knows!  If  America  makes  haste  to  learn 
what  Europe  can  teach,  she  may  perhaps  be  saved 
dislocation  of  her  own. 

The  difficulty  with  radical  change  in  America 
is  that  it  has  not  been  foreshadowed  by  general 
sympathetic  attention.  We  have  not  had  the  same 
historical  or  pressing  reasons  that  Europe  has 
had  for  social  analysis  and  criticism.  For  in- 
stance, we  have  not  in  America  experienced  in 
an  impressive  way  the  feudal  system,  or  since  our 
independence  had  a  hereditary  ruler.  We  have 
not  had  the  problems  incident  to  powerful  politi- 
cal neighbors  with  boundless  national  ambi- 
tions to  force  us  either  to  farsighted  diplomacy 
or  to  an  internal  defensive  organization.  We  have 
not  had  serious  social  or  religious  disturbances; 
or  we  have  blindly  or  good-naturedly  ignored 
them. 

Even  the  problems  that  we  share  in  common 
with  Europe  have  been  largely  banished  as 
incredible  in  our  idealistic  republic.  We  have 
claimed  to  have  no  class  distinctions.  We  have 
treated  capitalism  as  a  finality,  not  as  a  stepping 
stone    on    the    road   of    general    progress.     We 


10       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

have  supposed  political  democracy  to  be  the  limit 
of  democracy  and  we  have  fancied  America 
hors  concours  in  any  exhibit  of  free  institutions. 
Any  criticism  of  America's  brand  of  democracy  is 
resented  as  an  insult  to  the  flag.  Any  suggestion 
as  to  betterment  seems  a  slap  in  the  face  to  the 
successful  American— his  courage,  his  initiative— 
and  consequently  merely  a  scheme  for  putting 
beggars  on  horseback. 

Nor  are  we  prepared  to  sympathize  with 
Europe's  awakening  liberalism  by  parallel  eco- 
nomic studies  of  our  own.  In  our  war  prepara- 
tion, so  far,  we  have  gone  against  American  in- 
dividualistic traditions  because  we  have  largely 
followed  France  and  England.  In  so  doing  we 
are  governed  by  practical  considerations  and  do 
not  understand  the  economic  implications  of  our 
war  socialization.  We  cannot,  therefore,  be  too 
well  informed  about  our  domestic  problems  or 
consider  them  too  much  at  this  time.  Not  only  are 
they  very  much  a  part  of  our  war  success,  but 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  social  readjustments 
can  only  be  accomplished  smoothly  by  a  new  in- 
telligence as  to  their  principles  and  bearing. 

The  National  and  Social  Conflicts 

We  must  finally  remember  that  there  are  two 
conflicts  going  on  at  the  same  time — a  conflict  of 
nations  and  a  conflict  of  classes— the  international 
conflict  and  the  social  conflict.    The  social  conflict 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  11 

will  not  call  a  truce  during  the  national  conflict 
because  it  cannot.  This  social  conflict  is  not  pro- 
jected by  a  nameless  unrest  but  by  the  vital  urge 
of  existence  in  the  actual  affairs  of  daily  life  which 
demands  of  every  man  that  he  secure  for  him- 
self and  his  family  all  possible  opportunity  for 
growth,  which  will  be  his  contribution  to  race 
progress. 

On  deeper  analysis  it  will  be  found  that  these 
two  conflicts — the  social  and  the  national — are 
one;  that  they  are  at  bottom  economic  and  have 
to  do  with  ideals  for  larger  human  betterment. 
Feudalism,  autocracy,  militarism,  imperialism, 
democracy,  are  methods  of  organization  for  se- 
curing human  advantage.  America  is  backing  the 
proposition  that  in  the  world  of  today  democracy 
is  of  wider,  richer  advantage  to  mankind  than  pre- 
ceding forms  of  racial  or  national  organization. 
We  are  further  undertaking  to  prove  that,  after 
all,  the  highest  loyalty  is  not  a  man's  loyalty  to 
the  person  of  a  prince,  but  his  loyalty  to  his 
brother-man  and  to  the  principles  of  fellowship. 

We  cannot  keep  the  inner  and  the  outer  apart 
in  government  any  more  than  we  can  in  people. 
Attention  to  domestic  problems  becomes  more  ex- 
cited in  times  of  war,  which  is  like  the  hand  on 
a  kaleidoscope,  turning  things  as  we  look,  into 
new  arrangement.  Run  over  in  your  mind  for  a 
moment  some  of  the  internal  changes  the  war  has 
produced. 

A  change  in  the  modem  industrial  system  has 


12       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

been  supposed  to  be  so  infinitely  difficult  and  haz- 
ardous that  it  could  only  be  compassed  slowly  and 
even  if  soon  begun  could  only  after  generations 
be  consummated. 

English  economists  are  surprised  at  the  short 
time  required  to  change  their  industrial  organiza- 
tion from  individual  to  governmental  manage- 
ment and  from  industrial  to  military  production. 
**In  an  extraordinarily  short  time,'^  says  Profes- 
sor Pigou,  **the  business  and  industrial  commu- 
nity has  changed  front  and  altered  its  formation 
in  conformity  with  new  conditions. '' 

War  has  brought  Europe  greater  efficiency  in 
railroading  by  government  management;  it  has 
made  of  production,  conservation,  and  distribu- 
tion, once  a  speculation,  a  mathematical  problem; 
it  has  increased  skilled  labor  and  brought  up  into 
the  ranks  of  thrifty  toil  classes  thrown  into 
crime  by  unemployment;  it  has  shown  clearly 
that  long  hours  and  bad  sanitation  for  laboring 
men,  women,  and  children  lessen  production,  de- 
stroy physique,  and  are  *^bad  business*';  it  has 
shown  that  the  safety  of  the  state  depends  upon 
the  loyalty  and  intelligent  co-operation  of  labor; 
it  has  put  new  value  upon  large  families ;  upon  the 
working-class,  and  upon  youth.  In  short,  every 
function  that  nineteenth-century  political  liberal- 
ism claimed  must  be  left  to  the  individual  in  order 
to  insure  national  well-being,  has,  during  the  war, 
been  assumed  and  has  been  administered  success- 
fully by  the  state. 


DOMESTIC  PROBLEMS  13 

A  notable  aspect  of  the  Great  War  is  the  extent 
to  which  the  countries  engaged  are  officially  and 
unofficially  making  preparations  for  peace, — ^mer- 
cantile, industrial,  political  preparation — not  in 
order  to  bring  about  peace  but,  when  peace  is  de- 
clared, to  start  the  race  anew  in  better  condition. 
While  at  war  the  nations  are  training  for  peace. 
In  England  innumerable  committees,  govern- 
mental and  private,  are  canvassing  the  wages, 
organizations,  and  housing  of  labor  and  how  to 
associate  it  with  government  as  never  before.  In 
America  we  did  not  like  the  maxim  **in  time  of 
peace  prepare  for  war.'^  Why  not,  then,  adopt 
the  new  maxim  **In  time  of  war  prepare  for 
peace''? 


II 


THE  WORKER'S  LOST  STATUS 
AND  HIS  UNREST 


"A  nation  habituated  to  think  in  terms  of  problems  and 
of  the  struggle  to  remedy  them  before  it  is  actually  in  the  grip 
of  the  forces  which  create  the  problems,  would  have  an  equip- 
ment for  public  life  such  as  has  not  characterized  any  people." 

John  Dewey, 
The  New  Republic,  May  6,  1916,  p.  16. 

And  therefore  today  is  thrilling 
With  a  past  day's  late  fulfilling; 

And  the  multitudes  are  enlisted 

In  the  faith  that  their  fathers  resisted. 
And  scorning  the  dream  of  tomorrow, 

And  bringing  to  pass,  as  they  may, 
In  the  world,  for  its  joy  or  its  sorrow, 

The  dream  that  was  scorned  yesterday. 

Arthur  O'Shaughnessy. 

"In  every  government  the  laws  of  education  ought  to  be  in 
relation  to  the  principles  of  that  government." 

Montesquieu, 
Democracy  in  America,  Book  IV. 

"The  more  one  sees  of  this  war,  the  more  one  is  inclined  to 
the  belief  that  its  real  significance  lies  behind  the  battle  lines 
rather  than  on  them." 

"  The  inner  significance  of  this  war  has  to  do  with  the  emanci- 
pation of  labor,  just  as  the  inner  significance  of  that  of  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  had  to  do  with  the  emancipation  of  the  shop- 
keeper— who  has  since  become  a  plutocrat!  " 

From  "  Unrest  Behind  the  Lines," 
Winston  Churchill, 
N.  Y.  Times  Magazine,  December  2,  1917. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  WORKER'S  LOST  STATUS  AND 
HIS   UNREST 

ONE  danger  that  threatens  our  democracy  is 
our  ignorance  about  its  problems.  This 
dangerous  ignorance  is  due  to  many  causes.  The 
eighteenth-century  doctrinaire  notion  that  de- 
mocracy means  a  return  to  nature  and  therefore 
to  a  simpler  and  easier  social  organization:  the 
misleading  assumption  from  our  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  the  maintenance  of  personal 
political  freedom  is  a  sufficient  aim  of  the  state: 
our  unwillingness  to  recognize  economic  neces- 
sity as  an  undercurrent  in  social  and  political 
matters :  our  obstinate  insistence  that  America 
contained  no  classes  when  it  is  of  the  very  nature 
of  economic  development  to  stratify  society:  the 
control  of  our  press  and  its  censorship  of  un- 
pleasant industrial  facts:  the  suppression  in 
universities  of  economic  liberalism:  the  absence 
among  our  student  bodies  of  vital  attention  to 
current  industrial  problems, — all  of  these  Ameri- 
can characteristics  have  contributed  to  democ- 
racy's ignorance  of  its  own  problems. 
There  are,  however,  direct  sources  of  fresh  and 

17 


18      FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

reliable  information  from  which  the  public  should 
hear.  One  of  these  is  the  conservative  labor 
press,  which  prints  careful  and  full  accounts  of 
labor  conditions,  strikes,  and  court  proceedings.* 
Another  is  the  social  worker,  generally  a  college 
graduate,  who  is  in  and  out  of  the  families  of  the 
poor.  Another  is  the  missionary,  who  usually  has 
years  of  experience  in  a  special  locality  and  is 
its  expert.  Another  is  the  Open  Forum,  where 
eager-minded  working-people — students  of  social 
problems — discuss  them  with  a  knowledge  and 
an  oratorical  power  which  often  paralyzes  and 
silences  their  opponents  of  the  educated  classes. 
The  condition  and  need  of  America  as  re- 
vealed by  such  sources  of  information  are  alarm- 
ingly different  from  the  generally  conceived  pic- 
ture; they  largely  account  for  the  radicalism  of 
social  workers,  many  clergymen,  and  some  col- 
lege professors,  as  well  as  the  secret  revolt  of 
many  employees  in  the  financial  districts  of  our 
great  cities. 

A  Republic  Demands  Omniscience 

A  republic,  as  a  self-governing  state,  must  de- 
mand of  its  sovereign  citizens  something  of  that 
omniscience  we  used  to  laugh  about  as  imper- 
sonated in  the  Kaiser  and  Mr.  Roosevelt.  For 
an  American  citizen  it  is  a  moment  of  startled 
awakening  when  he  becomes  alive  to  the  fact  that 

*  For  a  list  of  labor  newspapers,  etc.,  see  Appendix. 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    19 

if  the  republic  is  to  last  he  must  in  very  truth  be 
sovereign.  This  he  cannot  be  without  an  educa- 
tion in  the  subjects  upon  which  democratic  se- 
curity depends.  For  instance,  he  must  be  better 
educated  in  the  history  of  economics  if  he  is  to 
reply  successfully  to  those  discontented  voices 
heard  asserting,  since  we  published  our  idealistic 
reasons  for  going  to  war,  that  there  is  more 
democracy  in  Europe  than  in  America. 

The  National  Economic  League's  program  for 
1917  contained  a  list  of  subjects  for  special  consid- 
eration arranged  in  an  order  of  importance  indi- 
cated by  the  preferential  votes  of  its  members. 
There  were  forty-one  subjects  and  on  an  average 
half  a  dozen  sub-topics  under  each  head.  Here, 
then,  are  two  hundred  and  fifty  subjects  of  impera- 
tive importance  for  Americans.  Let  me  name  a 
few  to  test  the  reader's  readiness  upon  vital  cur- 
rent problems. 

1.  National  Defense  (Preparedness  (Military,  Na- 
val, Economic,  Financial,  Industrial,  Commercial,  So- 
cial). Universal  Compulsory  Military  Training  and 
Service.  Limitation  of  Armaments.  Disarmament,  etc. 
The  Peril  of  Militarism). 

2.  International  Peace  (Enforcement  of  Peace,  In- 
ternational Organization  to  Maintain  Peace,  the 
League  to  Enforce  Peace,  Peace  Terms,  Promoting  In- 
ternational Friendship,  the  True  Basis  of  Lasting 
Peace,  etc.). 

3.  International  Relations  (America's  Foreign  Pol- 
icy, the  Monroe  Doctrine,  Our  Relations  with  South 


20       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

America  and  the  Orient.     America's  Rights  and  Ob- 
ligations.    The  Problem  of  Mexico). 

4.  American  Merchant  Marine  (American  Shipping 
Laws). 

5.  Labor  Problem  (Relation  Between  Employers 
and  Workmen,  Labor  and  Capital,  Strikes,  Wages, 
Hours,  Unemployment,  Poverty). 

6.  Education  (the  Public  Schools,  a  National  Sys- 
tem of  Education.  Ethical,  Religious,  Civic,  and  Moral 
Training  in  Public  Schools.  The  Press.  Motion  Pic- 
tures). 

7.  Conservation  (Conservation  and  Development  of 
Natural  Resources,  Economic  Wastes,  Conservation  of 
Human  Life,  Public  Health,  Industrial  and  Personal 
Efficiency,  Conservation  of  the  Public  Interests). 

8.  Efficiency  and  Economy  in  Government  (Reform 
of  Federal  Finance  Through  Budget  Control.  Exces- 
sive Appropriations  for  Post  Office  Buildings.  Pre- 
paredness). 

9.  Administration  of  Justice  (Law  Reform.  The 
Judiciary.  The  Encroachment  of  the  Legislative  upon 
the  Judicial  Department  of  Government.  Separation 
of  Politics  from  the  Judiciary). 

10.  Taxation  and  Tax  Reforms  (National,  State, 
Municipal,  Taxation  of  Land  Values,  Incomes  and  In- 
heritances, etc.). 

How  many  high  school  boys,  or  even  college 
graduates,  could  secure  a  mark  of  fifty  per  cent, 
if  examined  on  these  questions  1 

The  National  Economic  League's  study  pro- 
gram for  1918  is  even  more  difficult. 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    21 

Employers  ** Forget'*  the  Human  Element 

Little  attempt  seems  to  be  made  by  employers 
in  America  to  understand  either  the  human  ele- 
ment or  the  economic  problems  involved  in  the 
labor  movement.  The  whole  matter  is  **unresf ; 
the  only  way  out  is  for  capital  to  stand  pat.  Mr. 
Theodore  Shonts,  President  of  the  Interborough 
Railroad  Company  of  New  York,  addressed  as 
follows  the  students  of  Drake  University,  Iowa, 
June  12,  1912: 

^'The  spirit  of  unrest  is  abroad.  It  is  a  universal 
sign  of  the  times.  Nor  is  it  confined  to  this  land  alone ; 
it  is  world-wide.  That  country  is  no  longer  considered 
the  best  governed  which  governs  the  least.  The  cry 
is  for  universal  governmental  activity.  Whether  it  be 
called  socialism,  collectivism,  communism,  municipal 
operation,  or  government  ownership,  the  result  is  the 
same.  The  community  itself  must  run  the  individual 
and  provide  for  his  wants  while  the  individual  sinks 
into  a  helpless  unit,  incapable  of  upholding  the  stabil- 
ity of  the  very  government  which  he  designs  to  nourish 
his  common  wants.'' 

Members  of  the  State  Factory  Investigation 
Committee  of  New  York  openly  declared  from 
public  platforms  that  *  *  in  the  factories  of  the  city 
and  State  the  human  element  is  pretty  much  for- 
gotten.^' But  this  is  just  the  field  labor  wishes  to 
control — not  the  mercantile  but  the  human. 

An  astounding  illustration  of  the  forgetfulness 
by  business  men  of  the  human  side  of  their  under- 


22       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

takings  came  to  light  in  connection  with  our 
shipbuilding  program.  Hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars  were  appropriated;  great  contracts  were 
signed ;  shipyards  were  built  or  enlarged — ^but  no 
ships  were  forthcoming.  Those  responsible  for 
all  this  outlay,  it  was  discovered,  had  not  thought 
it  worth  while  to  provide  housing  for  the  laborers 
who  were  to  give  life  to  this  enormous  stagnant 
investment. 

The  significance  of  labor's  unrest  is  far-reach- 
ing. It  does  not  mean  merely  that  labor  believes 
itself  entitled  to  a  larger  share  of  production  and 
to  better  sanitary  shop  and  home  conditions; 
labor's  unrest  means  that  modem  industrial  life 
was  organized  without  taking  into  account  what 
the  worker  had  to  say  about  it  and  that  in  con- 
sequence we  have  a  broken-winged  industrial 
machine  and  a  deceptive  political  order. 

The  Rise  of  the  Proletariat 

Feudalism  gave  the  serf  food,  shelter,  and  cloth- 
ing in  exchange  for  his  labor  and  his  military 
service.  The  serf  had  his  stated  place.  He  was 
a  small  partner  in  the  concern  and  shared  its 
profits.  The  wage  system  gives  the  laborer  noth- 
ing but  the  right  to  compete  for  a  job.  In  times  of 
war  the  state  can  take  over  the  worker's  indus- 
trial or  military  services ;  but  in  times  of  peace  it 
does  not  insure  him  subsistence.  The  worker  is 
merely  an  economic  buffer  between  the  comfort- 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    23 

able  classes  and  any  tightening  of  economic  pres- 
sure,— that  is  to  say,  bad  times  and  starvation. 
He  is  the  sop  thrown  to  the  Cerberus  of  capital- 
istic mismanagement.  When  things  go  wrong  and 
hard  times  come,  a  few  million  laborers  are  thrown 
out  of  work  and  their  families  are  put  on  short 
rations,  which  often  means  on  none  at  all,  until 
by  this  means  business  has  saved  enough  and 
thrift,  the  semi-starvation  of  those  still  working, 
has  put  by  enough  for  a  new  speculative  drive. 
Radical  workers  call  themselves  *^wage  slaves.'* 

To  be  able  to  give  sympathetic  attention  to 
the  labor  question  one  should  be  acquainted  not 
only  with  the  present-day  facts  which  make  a 
strong  sentimental  appeal,  but  with  character- 
istic legislation  in  England  and  America  after 
the  Industrial  Revolution  of  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Still  further  back  he  should 
see  the  source  from  which  the  modern  prole- 
tariat is  originally  derived  in  the  break-up  of 
feudalism,  the  discovery  of  America,  the  expro- 
priation of  guilds  and  of  estates  by  new  politi- 
cal power  after  the  Reformation. 

Such  a  look  backward  is  far  from  an  aca- 
demic treatment  of  our  subject ;  it  shows  the  servile 
history  of  labor;  it  discloses  centuries  of  momen- 
tum behind  the  labor  movement;  it  reveals  mis- 
fortunes that  one  portion  of  the  community  should 
not  bear  alone ;  it  confirms  the  impossibility  of  a 
return  into  older  and  more  autocratic  forms. 

King  Canute  sweeping  back  the  tide  is  a  pic- 


24       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

ture  of  an  industrial  magnate  that  thinks  to 
stay  by  force  the  creeping  tide  of  proletarian 
advance  which  has  gained  in  mass  and  momen- 
tum for  at  least  five  hundred  years. 

The  word  proletariat — discordant,  with  good 
right,  to  American  ears — must,  after  all,  be  con- 
sidered not  as  a  name  for  a  vague  and  small 
body  of  sophisticated  malcontents  in  the  labor 
movement,  but  for  a  great  army  upon  a  long 
and  patient  march. 

In  England  from  the  Conquest  onward  for 
nearly  three  hundred  years  there  was,  in  our 
sense  of  the  word,  no  labor  problem.  In  England 
the  guild  system  with  its  apprentices,  journey- 
men, and  master  craftsmen,  did  not  develop  large 
bodies  of  workmen.  A  journeyman  could  easily 
set  up  for  himself  after  his  apprenticeship  and 
become  a  master  craftsman,  take  into  his  house 
an  apprentice  or  two,  or  a  young  journeyman 
or  two.  At  any  rate,  the  size  of  his  domestic 
quarters  and  afterwards  law  limited  the  labor 
groups.  He  could  not  employ  women  except  his 
wife  or  his  daughters  and  there  was  no  night 
work. 

** There  were,  therefore,''  says  Professor  Ash- 
ley, **no  collisions  between  *  capital  and  labor,' 
though  there  might  be  occasional  quarrels  be- 
tween individuals.  The  hard-working  journey- 
man expected  to  be  able  in  a  few  years  to  be- 
come an  independent  master;  and  while  he  re- 
mained a  journeyman  there  was  no  social  gulf 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    25 

between  himself  and  his  employer.  They  worked 
in  the  same  shop,  side  by  side,  and  the  servant 
probably  earned  at  least  half  as  much  as  his 
master.''  * 

Nor  was  speculation  allowed  to  advance  prices 
and  so  reduce  the  purchasing  value  of  the  work- 
man's earnings.  Professor  Ashley  quotes  a 
graphic  illustration  of  the  community's  pro- 
tection of  itself:  *  *  John-at-Wood,  baker,  was 
charged  before  the  common  sergeant  with  the 
following  offense:  *  Whereas  one  Robert  de 
Cawode  had  two  quarters  of  wheat  for  sale  in 
common  market  on  the  Pavement  within  New- 
gate, he,  the  said  John,  cunningly  and  by  secret 
words  whispering  in  his  ear,  fraudulently  with- 
drew Cawode  out  of  the  common  market;  and 
they  went  together  into  the  Church  of  the  Friars 
Minor,  and  there  John  bought  the  two  quarters 
at  15l;^d.  per  bushel,  being  21/2^-  over  the  com- 
mon selling  price  at  that  time  in  the  market; 
to  the  great  loss  and  deceit  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, and  to  the  increase  of  the  dearness  of 
corn.'  At- Wood  denied  the  offense,  and  *put 
himself  on  the  country.'  Thereupon  a  jury  of 
the  venue  of  Newgate  was  empaneled,  who  gave 
as  verdict  that  At- Wood  had  not  only  thus 
bought  the  corn,  but  had  afterwards  returned 
to  the  market,  and  boasted  of  his  misdoing; 
*this  he  said  and  did  to  increase  the  dearness 
of  corn.'     Accordingly  he  was  sentenced  to  be 

*  "  Economic  History  and  Theory,"  W.  J.  Ashley,  p.  94. 


26       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

put  into  the  pillory  for  three  hours,  and  one  of 
the  sheriffs  was  directed  to  see  the  sentence 
executed  and  proclamation  made  of  the  cause 
of  his  punishment. '  ^  * 

A  *^ labor  class''  appeared  in  England  as  early 
as  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Among 
artificers  there  were  men  who  could  not  look  for- 
ward to  being  master  craftsmen,  owing  to  the 
superfluity  of  labor  and  the  growing  power  of 
capital.  Landlords,  too,  changed  tillage  to  pas- 
ture and  turned  families  off  the  land.  The  **  work- 
ing-class" and  the  *' labor  question"  are  consid- 
erations that  had  to  be  dealt  with  in  England  by 
legislation  as  early  as  1450,  from  which  time  the 
seriousness  of  the  problem  has  increased. 

*  *  Through  the  breaking  up  of  the  feudal  houses 
with  their  numerous  retainers,"  says  Kirkup, 
**  through  the  transformation  of  the  old  peasant- 
holdings  into  extensive  sheep-runs  and  generally 
through  the  prevalent  application  of  the  com- 
mercial system  to  the  management  of  the  land, 
instead  of  the  Catholic  and  feudal  spirit,  the 
peasantry  were  driven  off  the  land;  a  multitude 
of  people,  totally  destitute  of  property,  were 
thrown  loose  from  their  old  means  of  livelihood 
and  were  reduced  to  vagabondage  or  forced  into 
towns.  It  was  in  this  way  that  the  modern  prole- 
tariat made  their  tragic  entry  into  history."  f 

The  Industrial  Revolution  increased  the  ranks 

♦"Economic  History  and  Theory,"  W.  J.  Ashley,  p.   184. 
t "  A  History  of  Socialism,"  Thomas  Kirkup,  p.  133. 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    27 

of  the  proletariat.  The  steam  engine,  the  power 
loom,  the  spinning  jenny,  and  the  cotton  gin 
developed  a  factory  system  which  took  the  tools 
of  production  out  of  the  hands  of  the  workers 
and  put  machinery,  capital,  and  its  combination 
into  the  hands  of  the  masters.  The  public  tur- 
bulence and  multiplication  of  crimes  incident  to 
this  economic  change  can  be  judged  by  the  in- 
creasing number  of  offenses  which  in  England 
was  visited  with  capital  punishment  from  1750- 
1799.  At  the  end  of  the  century  there  were  200. 
In  the  same  year  that  England  had  so  great  a 
number  of  capital  offenses  she  forbade  labor  to 
combine.  In  the  year  she  refused  to  repeal  a  law 
which  hanged  an  apprentice  for  stealing  four  shil- 
lings from  his  master,  England  deprived  the 
laborer  of  old  usages  that  mitigated  wage  griev- 
ances. Into  the  proletarian  army  were  flung  men, 
women,  and  children  of  old  cottage  industries. 
Poorhouse  children  were  contracted  for  and  sold 
like  cattle. 

The  French  Revolution  and  the  English  Reform 
Bill  did  not  emancipate  the  workers.  These  were 
revolutions  of  the  capitalistic  and  mercantile 
classes  against  the  control  of  feudal  lords  and 
the  clergy — they  were  bourgeois  advantages,  not 
proletarian.    The  people  were  left  out. 

The  Communistic  Manifesto  of  1848  and  the 
repeal  in  1871  of  the  English  laws  against  combi- 
nations of  workmen  can  be  considered  dates  which 
mark  the  rise  of  the  modern  labor  movement  in 


28       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Germany  and  England — that  is,  the  definite  and 
intelligent  determination  of  the  modern  working- 
classes  to  secure  industrial  power,  to  become  an 
integral  part — in  fact,  a  partner — in  the  modern 
business  organization. 

Is  it  a  wonder  that  the  proletariat,  these  work- 
ers, outcasts  from  the  regard  and  care  of  the  pow- 
erful, should  be  somewhat  indifferent  to  any  na- 
tionalism that  opposes  socializing  the  state? 
^*That,''  as  August  Boeckh  and  Lassalle  taught, 
**we  must  widen  our  notion  of  the  state  so  as  to 
believe  that  the  state  is  the  institution  in  which  the 
whole  virtue  of  humanity  should  be  realized. ' ' 

Working-men  Must  Combine 

The  labor  question  appears  in  a  new  light  the 
moment  one  sees  that  an  individual  working- 
man  is  no  match,  in  bargaining,  for  a  corpora- 
tion; that  is  to  say,  no  match  for  the  expert 
financiers  and  lawyers  who  generally  represent 
important  corporations.  Even  in  his  home  the 
working-man  is  not  much  of  a  financier;  for  he 
leaves  the  spending  of  his  money,  as  do  the  other 
wage-earners  of  the  family,  to  the  wife  and 
mother  who  is  the  family  treasurer  and  bar- 
gainer. 

Working-men  must  combine,  at  any  rate,  for 
collective  bargaining;  and  this  combination,  once 
effected,  leads  to  a  use  of  trade-unions  in  many 
beneficial  directions. 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    29 

In  spite  of  the  industrial  feebleness  of  the  in- 
dividual working-man,  English  and  American 
laws  have  not  encouraged  combinations  of  labor. 
Labor  has  been  discouraged ;  capital  has  been  en- 
couraged. In  1799  in  England,  a  law  was  passed 
forbidding  working-men  to  organize  for  any  pur- 
pose. In  1813  an  English  law,  which  had  per- 
mitted justices  of  the  peace  to  raise  wages  in  a 
certain  list  of  occupations  when  in  their  opinion 
conditions  warranted  such  increase,  was  re- 
pealed. In  1814,  the  apprenticeship  adjustment 
of  labor  standards  was  done  away  with,  *^  labor 
being  then  left  without  any  measure  of  protec- 
tion at  all.''* 

The  effect  of  these  laws  was  to  reduce  the 
earning  power  of  men  and  consequently  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  women  and  children  forced 
into  English  industries.  This  happened  at  a  time 
when  steam  power  and  the  new  factory  system 
were  destroying  domestic  occupations.  The  re- 
sult was  that  mills,  running  as  many  as  fifteen 
hours  a  day,  collected  men,  women,  and  children 
under  one  roof,  where  unwholesome  conditions 
helped  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  wretched 
physique,  ignorance,  and  slum  life  which  one 
hundred  years  of  English  philanthropy  have  not 
corrected.  **Only  after  twenty-five  years  of 
agitation  were  the  hours  of  a  child  of  nine  in  the 
factory  limited  to  sixty-nine  a  week  by  the  law 
of  1825. ' '  t     The  uncontrolled  and  misunderstood 

*  D.  H.  Macgregor,  "  The  Evolution  of  Industry,"  p.  65. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  66. 


30       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

growth  of  cities  assisted  the  industrial  forces 
destructive  to  human  health. 

In  spite  of  the  enlargement  of  the  English 
franchise,  English  working-men  did  not  receive,  in 
their  attempts  at  self-help,  much  political  assist- 
ance until  1869.  Combinations  of  working-men 
were  illegal  if  not  criminal.  It  was  not  until  well 
into  the  present  century  that  a  parliamentary  com- 
mittee reported  favorably  on  trade-unionism  and 
even  recommended  its  encouragement. 

In  the  United  States,  the  first  use  of  combination 
by  the  workers  was  for  specific  and  temporary 
purposes.  Opposition  to  these  early,  sporadic 
but  successful  strikes  was  marked  by  the  first  trial 
of  journeymen  for  conspiracy  in  1806.  After  this 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  American  labor 
organizations  had  to  exist  under  the  guise  of 
secret  and  benefit  societies.  Only  when  the  work- 
ing-men's societies,  founded  in  the  various  trades, 
came  together  and  formed  a  representative  body 
did  they  have  the  power  openly  to  brave  the  op- 
position of  the  employers.  The  first  trade-union 
in  America,  organized  in  Philadelphia  in  1827, 
antedated  the  first  English  organization  by  two 
years. 

In  America,  the  working-man,  in  his  efforts 
toward  wider  industrial  influence  through  trade- 
unionism,  is  still  fought  directly  and  indirectly  by 
his  employer.  Labor  organizations  are  fought 
secretly  and  publicly  by  employers'  associations. 

Capital,  in  England,  was  not  only  strength- 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    31 

ened  by  the  acts  which  weakened  labor,  but  by 
direct  legislation — as,  for  instance,  the  Joint  Stock 
Acts,  from  1844-1862.  Owners  of  small  capital 
were  given  the  right  to  combine  and  at  the  same 
time  a  limited  liability. 

The  Workingman  Has  Been  Disfranchised 
Industrially 

The  result  of  these  laws  which  repress  the 
natural  effort  of  labor  in  its  own  behalf,  tak*en 
together  with  the  economic  theory  that  labor  is 
nothing  but  a  commodity  under  the  laws  of  sup- 
ply and  demand,  have  destroyed  the  former 
status  possessed  by  the  toiler  under  feudalism. 
The  modern  contract  idea  of  his  relationship  to 
industry  has  not  restored  him  to  an  integral 
place  in  our  social  economy.  In  the  light  of  this 
displacement  of  the  working-man,  as  a  factor  in 
the  real  control  of  the  modern  system,  must  be 
viewed  his  conscious  or  unconscious  striving  for 
a  **say*'  in  the  industrial  management  of  his 
job.  For  he  will  not  get  back  into  the  position 
he  has  lost  until  his  voice  has  a  recognized  legal 
place  in  the  industrial  organization  of  his  time. 
This  is  the  explanation  of  his  unrest — he  has  lost 
his  economic  equilibrium  and  is  frantically  trying 
to  regain  it.  Some  of  his  artless  assumptions,  so 
ridiculous  to  the  capitalistic  class,  so  exasperating 
to  the  public,  so  troublesome  to  the  police  and  the 
courts,  are  pathetic  attempts  to  recapture  his  lost 
status.    For  instance,  when  on  strike,  he  will  not 


32       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

permit  a  non-union  man  to  accept  the  job  he  left. 
A  non-union  man  who  acts  as  a  strike-breaker  is 
** disloyal  to  the  working-class,''  is  **a  traitor/' 
**a  scab."  The  union  man  has  a  theory  that  the 
job  belongs  to  him  whether  he  is  working  at  it 
or  not:  that  if  he  strike,  the  job  must  be  left 
open  pending  the  union's  settlement  of  the  dis- 
pute. His  demands  for  shop  committees  before 
whom  a  question  involving  the  dismissal  of 
working-men  must  come,  and  all  other  methods 
of  asserting  his  influence  over  a  given  industry, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  legislation  he  fights  for,  are 
only  the  efforts  of  a  class  outside  the  breastworks 
of  economic  control  to  gain  re-admittance.  In 
short,  the  working-man  of  today  has  been  robbed, 
by  the  modern  commercial  and  factory  system,  of 
what  may  be  called  his  industrial  franchise  pos- 
sessed under  an  earlier  system;  he  agitates  and 
strikes  to  recover  industrial  enfranchisement. 

Philanthropy   Cannot   Remedy   Social   Mal- 
adjustment 

Meanwhile  the  ills  incident  to  this  subjugation 
of  the  working-class  have  been  ameliorated  by 
philanthropy,  which  appeals  to  the  rich  not  only 
as  an  expression  of  noblesse  oblige,  but  as  an 
obligation  and  custom  of  Christianity. 

But  philanthropy  is  practically  played  out. 
Needs  multiply  faster  than  the  philanthropic 
funds.  The  increase  of  philanthropic  institu- 
tions adds  to  their  inefficiency.    Philanthropic  so- 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    33 

cieties  spring  up  like  mushrooms  over  night. 
Volunteer  associations  without  number  exist  in 
churches,  synagogues,  settlements,  unofficially  in 
the  army  and  navy,  and  in  associations  of  teach- 
ers, firemen,  policemen.  They  are  so  numer- 
ous that  they  tread  upon  each  other.  The  Chari- 
ties Directory  of  New  York  State  contains  458 
pages  of  closely  printed  matter.  Nothing  needs 
more  co-ordination  and  reorganization  than  our 
philanthropies.  Mr.  Wilbur  C.  Phillips'  '*Unit" 
system,  now  being  tried  out  in  Cincinnati,  hopes 
to  affect  this  needed  unification.  But  complete 
reorganization  would  mean  assimilation  with  the 
industrial  order, — nothing  less  than  the  destruc- 
tion of  philanthropy  as  such  and  the  emergence 
of  its  expected  benefits  by  means  of  higher  social 
justice.  Every  increase  in  philanthropic  machin- 
ery delays  the  natural  tendency  in  democracy  to 
take  upon  itself  responsibility  for  unfortunate 
conditions  incident  to  its  existence.  Social  mal- 
adjustment cannot  be  remedied  by  personal  gra- 
tuities. In  serious  crises  philanthropy  breaks 
down  and  acknowledges  defeat.  For  example,  in 
its  attempt  to  deal  with  the  unemployed  in  the 
winter  of  1913,  and  its  response  to  hungry  women 
and  children  in  the  spring  of  1917.  Democracy 
must  bear  the  expenses  of  its  own  accidents. 
There  is  another  reason  for  the  collapse  of 
philanthropy.  Charity  does  not  return  to  the 
worker  that  part  of  the  value  of  his  labor  which 
is  taken  from  him  by  the  exploitation  of  capital. 


34      FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  surplus  profit,  which  goes  not  to  his  pocket 
but  to  that  of  the  employer,  is  often  dissipated 
by  extravagance  and  waste.  A  pitiably  small 
percentage  of  this  surplus  profit  returns,  in  the 
form  of  philanthropy,  to  the  workers,  who,  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  should  have  received  it  in 
the  first  place  as  a  just  recompense  of  their  toil. 
The  draining  off  of  the  value  given  by  labor  to 
material;  the  destruction  of  much  of  this  value 
and  the  return  of  very  little  of  it  as  philanthropy, 
increases  the  condition  of  destitution  faster  than 
philanthropic  funds  can  possibly  meet  the  need. 
Philanthropic  distribution  is  always  smaller  than 
wage  inadequacy. 

**Get  off  Our  Backs'* 

In  addition  to  this  inevitable  and  increasing 
disparity  between  the  classes  due  to  the  wage 
system,  we  must  remember  that  in  the  last  twenty 
years,  in  fact,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
while  money  wages  had  somewhat  increased, 
their  purchasing  power  had  diminished  to  such 
an  extent  that  real  wages  had  dropped.  More- 
over, according  to  the  United  States  census,  the 
ratio  between  production  and  wasteful  competi- 
tion has  been  widening,  which  means  that  the  ma- 
jority of  the  country  have  been  more  and  more 
living  on  the  productive  energies  of  the  minority 
of  the  country. 

This  situation  explains  the  outcry  of  working- 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    35 

men  to  idle  capitalists,  ^^Get  off  our  backs/*  The 
struggle  of  the  working-class  to  bear  this  bur- 
den of  the  privileged  class  naturally  has  its  limit, 
as  all  strength  has  its  limit.  It  is  only  a  question 
of  time,  then,  when  the  space  between  great  for- 
tunes and  working-man's  income  will  represent 
such  a  disparity  as  to  be  intolerable.  Less  than 
one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  population  in 
1915  had  an  income  of  over  $3,000  a  year.  *^The 
wage  rates  of  four-fifths  of  the  males  fall  below 
$750;  a  third  below  $500.*'* 

The  Bureau  of  Personal  Service  of  the  Board 
of  Estimate  in  New  York  reported  to  Mayor 
Mitchel  the  minimum  on  which  a  family  of  five 
could  live  in  New  York  in  1917  as  being  $980, 
compared  with  $840  in  1915. 

The  report,  signed  by  George  L.  Tirrell,  di- 
rector of  the  Bureau,  classified  the  objects  of  ex- 
penditure into  eight  standard  groups  with  the 
following  expenditure  allotment: 

1915  1917 

Housing    $168.00  $168.00 

Carfare    30.30  30.30 

Food    383.812  492.388 

Clothing    104.20  127.10 

Fuel   and   Light 42.75  46.75 

Health     20.00  20.00 

Insurance    22.88  22.88 

Sundries    73.00  73.00 

Total  per  year. .  $844,942  $980,418 

*  Scott  Nearing,  "  Income,"  p.  106.     Published  in  1915. 


36       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  sundries  are  classified  as  follows:  Papers 
and  other  reading  matter,  $5;  recreation,  $40; 
furniture,  moving  expenses,  etc.,  $18;  church 
dues,  $5;  and  incidentals,  soap,  washing  mate- 
rials, stamps,  etc.,  $5. 

The  estimates  are  made  for  a  man,  his  wife,  a 
boy  thirteen  years  old,  a  girl  ten  years  old,  and  a 
boy  six  years  old. 

Of  the  housing  situation  the  report  says: 

**A  family  of  five  needs  at  least  four  rooms  to  meet 
the  demands  of  decency.  Rent  in  the  tenement  dis- 
tricts at  present  as  in  1915,  according  to  the  statements 
of  real  estate  men,  averages  $4  per  room  per  month." 

Of  course,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  at  any 
time  the  cost  of  living  in  New  York  is  higher  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  country.  Estimates  for 
other  sections  made  by  competent  committees 
place  the  many  requirements  to  support  a  family 
of  five  in  time  of  peace  as  low  as  $750,  or  even 
$680.  The  more  significant  fact,  however,  is  that 
four-fifths  of  our  male  industrial  workers  in  nor- 
mal times  do  not  receive  enough  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  their  families  upon  a  basis  of  even 
$750. 

A  New  Tendency — Personality  Fixes  Wages 

The  tendency  today,  therefore,  in  fixing  wages 
is  to  depend  upon  a  new  idea — the  theory  of  per- 
sonal values  and  the  need  of  the  individual  for 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    37 

such  income  as  shall  produce  the  normal  devel- 
opment of  personality.  This  standard  of  wages 
is  surely  a  far  cry  from  labor  as  a  commodity 
or  from  the  iron  laws  of  wages — even  from  sup- 
ply and  demand  that  for  generations  operated 
in  England  and  America.  It  substitutes  intelli- 
gent provision  in  place  of  the  laissez  faire  doc- 
trine which  maintains  that  as  each  individual 
benefited  himself  by  the  exercise  of  intense  but 
enlightened  industrial  selfishness,  he  was  also 
benefiting  mankind.  Now  the  question  is,  How 
do  wages  affect  personality?  Under  the  old 
theory  of  wages  the  slum  was  as  natural  as  the 
hills ;  under  the  new  theory  the  slum  is  hell. 

The  proletarian  is  sneered  at  for  the  number 
of  children  who  see  the  light  of  day  in  his  family. 
In  fact,  the  word  proletarian  in  its  original  sig- 
nificance means  a  person  who  has  nothing  else  to 
bequeath  to  the  state  except  children  {proles 
means  offspring  or  progeny).  On  the  other 
hand,  in  a  time  of  war  or  economic  emergency, 
the  state  turns  to  the  working-class  and  to  their 
children  in  almost  an  agony  of  fear,  to  compare 
the  nation's  man  and  woman  power  with  that 
of  its  enemies  or  competitors. 

The  bearing  of  children  should  be  treated  with 
enough  respect  by  a  community  whose  life  de- 
pends upon  it  to  accord  to  parents  at  least  hon- 
orable mention,  and  to  bestow  upon  children  the 
best  physical,  mental,  and  industrial  equipment. 
At  present,  the  industrial  army,  which  we  have 


38       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

discovered  must  supply  in  time  of  war  the  mili- 
tary establishment  in  the  field,  is  left  to  wallow. 


Peace  Depends  upon  the  Proletariat 

Fair  play  for  the  worker — which  is  nothing  but 
social  justice — goes  even  further  than  advantage 
to  the  state.  It  is  the  basis  of  international 
peace.  No  league  to  enforce  peace  can  be  suc- 
cessful when  the  nations  concerned  have  vastly 
different  forms  of  government.  This  is  the  dif- 
ficulty with  a  federation  of  nations  which  con- 
tain conflicting  forms  of  organization.  Imagine 
a  United  States  of  Europe  with  their  present 
governments.  There  is  no  common  denominator. 
Sultan,  kaiser,  emperor,  or  king  will  always  have 
dynastic  ambitions  and  immediate  family  plans 
which  will  be  supreme  guides  to  conduct  rather 
than  the  interests  of  his  subjects.  Nor  can 
monarchical  programs,  continually  asserting  and 
protecting  their  prerogatives,  match  popular  in- 
dustrial needs.  Instead  of  industrial  justice,  the 
hereditary  monarch  will  offer  makeshift  meas- 
ures to  dilute  current  difficulties  and  postpone 
the  fundamental  solution  of  deep  social  problems. 

Lord  Bryce  himself  sees  for  Germany  no  en- 
during peace  until  the  people  change  their  gov- 
ernment. The  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire 
can  see  peace  in  Europe  only  when  ambition  to 
reanimate  that  imperial  idea  has  perished. 

There  can  be  no  permanent  peace  between  ab- 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    39 

solute  government  and  popular  government. 
Democracy  can  make  no  reliable  alliance  with 
monarchs  even  when  they  are  hard-working. 
Everything  in  civilized  countries  today,  therefore, 
depends  upon  the  proletariat.  Permanent  peace 
among  European  nations  can  only  be  brought 
about  when  the  people  overthrow  their  hereditary 
rulers.  Democracies,  at  any  rate,  can  understand 
each  other,  better  than  they  can  understand  mon- 
archies or  than  monarchies  can  understand  them. 
One  cannot,  however,  shut  his  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  after  monarchical  government  is  abol- 
ished and  political  democracy  established,  there 
still  remain  within  political  democracy  the 
problems  and  dangers  of  capitalism  and  pluto- 
cratic control.  But  even  these  can  be  more  in- 
telligently faced  and  more  readily  met  when  the 
entire  attention  of  civilization  is  concentrated 
upon  them  and  is  not  diverted  or  beguiled  by  the 
problem  of  hereditary  rule. 

A  Growing  Reaction  Against  Democracy 

In  the  face  of  these  reasons  I  have  mentioned 
for  greater  industrial  justice,  for  fair  play  for 
the  worker,  we  have  in  this  country  a  growing 
reaction  against  democracy.  Perhaps  this  can 
be  indicated  by  an  editorial  in  the  New  York 
Times,  before  we  entered  the  war,  which  charac- 
terizes the  efforts  of  working-people  to  secure 
opportunities  for  expressing  their  views  and  for 


40      FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

studying  questions  that  vitally  concern  their  wel- 
fare as  *^a  tremendous  pother  about  free  speech'* : 

**If  community  forums  are  to  be  set  up,  the  responsi- 
ble part  of  the  community  must  have  a  hand  in  them. ' ' 
They  must  not  be  left  to  the  ''circulators  of  perilous 
or  crazed  opinion,'* 

— what  opinions  are  perilous  or  crazed  being  the 
very  point  at  issue  and  the  object  of  debate. 

The  universities  as  well  as  the  press  are  re- 
actionary. An  able  article  in  the  New  Republic 
(Feb.  17,  1917),  signed  **A  Professor,"  and  dis- 
cussing the  subject  of  faculty  meetings,  says : 

''Majority  vote  is  almost  always  reactionary.  Dis- 
carded theories  and  practices  hold  sway  longest  in 
faculty  gatherings.  .  .  .  Dogmatizing  becomes  the 
rule." 

The  universities  in  denying  platforms  to  radi- 
cal speakers  are  intensifying  the  mistakes  of 
their  curriculums.  They  might,  at  least,  allow 
radical  criticism  to  arouse  in  their  students  ques- 
tions never  so  easily  answered  as  while  under 
the  college  discipline  of  intellectual  attention, 
when  close  at  hand  are  some  of  the  greatest  liv- 
ing authorities  to  guide  students  to  answers 
which  are  historically  and  scientifically  approved. 

Educational  opportunities  are  insulted  when 
students  are  not  permitted  to  discuss  social 
questions  until  after  college  days,  when  in  the 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    41 

stress  of  business  and  politics  they  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  grave  problems  they  were  never 
introduced  to  in  the  classroom,  which  they  must 
settle  alone,  one  at  a  time,  when,  perhaps,  per- 
sonal and  national  welfare  are  at  stake. 

To  doubt  the  ability  of  the  people  to  make  con- 
tribution to  any  discussion  of  current  questions 
is  to  be  ignorant  of  the  mind  of  the  people  and 
of  their  ability.  Groups  of  working-men  that  I 
meet  are  vastly  cleverer  than  the  average  college 
graduate  in  the  marshaling  of  facts,  in  the  pow- 
ers of  statement,  and  in  vivid  speech.  The  col- 
leges can  well  be  warned  that  if  they  do  not  give 
another  turn  to  their  education,  their  graduates 
will  find  themselves  at  an  enormous  disadvantage 
in  the  economic  struggles  of  the  future  when  con- 
fronted by  a  self-educated  proletariat. 

Parliaments,  dumas,  reichstags,  chambers  of 
deputies,  would  not  have  a  right  to  exist  if  the 
contention  were  true  that  discussion  does  not 
lead  to  the  disclosure  of  new  facts ;  to  new  views 
capable  of  modifying  the  hostile  relation  of  classes 
and  even  of  nations; — and  to  the  emergence  of 
mighty  leaders  of  the  people. 

America's  Worst  Enemy  Is  the  Selfish  Citizen 

The  worst  enemy  of  America  is  not  a  foreign 
enemy,  but  it  is  the  selfish  American  citizen 
whose  democratic  ideals  have  gone  to  seed,  and 
whose  only  program  is  ridicule  and  suppression. 


42       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  very  definition  of  justice  today  needs  re- 
vision. No  one  in  America  takes  it  badly  that 
the  Czar's  property  yielding  an  income  it  is  said 
of  forty-two  millions  a  year  may  be  confiscated. 
If  we  are  correctly  informed,  there  are  American 
fortunes  that  yield  the  income  of  the  Czar.  This 
stupendous  wealth  may  be  admirably  earned  and 
expended.  But  there  is  something  wrong  with  an 
economic  system  that  makes  such  aggregation  of 
property  possible.  At  a  time  when  between  one 
and  two  million  children  are  obliged  to  earn  their 
living,  unprotected  by  the  National  Child  Labor 
Law;  when  millions  of  women  are  compelled  to 
work  for  their  bread;  when  over  two  hundred 
thousand  churches  throughout  the  country  are 
straining  every  effort  to  collect  and  deal  out  their 
small  philanthropies  to  sustain  life  and  give  shel- 
ter to  those  for  whom  the  industrial  conflict  has 
proved  too  severe,  America  must  find  some  cura- 
tive method  of  co-operation  between  labor  and 
capital. 

Under  the  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising 
that  America  has  neither  zealous  scientific 
paternalism,  nor  England's  intelligent  co-opera- 
tion with  labor.  Her  past  aloofness  from  the 
labor  question  is  only  one  side  of  her  national 
aloofness, — her  intellectual  provincialism,  her 
suspicion  or  ignorance  of  ideas  from  ** abroad," 
her  dislike  of  European  trade  marks — **made  in 
England,''  **made  in  Germany."  Like  Walter 
Pater,  America  has  desired  to  **keep  as  a  solitary 


LOST  STATUS  AND  UNREST    43 

prisoner  its  own  dream  of  a  world/ ^  Her  Euro- 
pean alliances  may  carry  her  into  the  first-line 
trenches  of  industrial  experiment — into  a  social 
revolution.  One  road  to  safety  is  fair  play  for 
the  worker. 


Ill 

THE  WORKING-MAN  AND 
PATRIOTISM 


"*Le8  moralistes/  disait  avec  une  haute  clairvoyance  Saint- 
Simon  en  1807,  '  se  mettent  en  contradiction  quand  ils  defendent  ^ 
rhomme  I'^goisme  et  approuvent  le  patriotisme,  car  le  patriotisme 
n'est  pas  autre  chose  que  I'^goisme  national,  et  cet  ^goisme 
fait  commettre  de  nation  d  nation  les  m^mes  injustices  que 
r^goisme  personnel  entre  les  individus.' 
"  Le  premier  point,  c'est  d'exister." 

Maurice  Babres, 
Sous  I'CEil  des  Barbares,  p.  16. 

"The  instinct  of  life  is  little  developed  in  youth." 

Mechnikov, 
Prolongation  of  Life,  p.  254. 

"What  grows  upon  the  world  is  a  certain  matter-of-factness. 
The  test  of  each  century,  more  than  of  the  century  before,  is  the 
test  of  results.  New  countries  are  arising  all  over  the  world 
where  there  are  no  fixed  sources  of  reverence;  which  have  to 
make  them;  which  have  to  create  institutions  which  must  gen- 
erate loyalty  by  conspicuous  utility." 

Walter  Bagehot, 
The  English  Constitutions,  p.  316. 

"  Our  wishes  lengthen  as  our  sun  declines." 

Young's  Night  Thoughts. 


CHAPTER  in 
THE  WORKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM 

MR.  ROOT,  on  the  occasion  of  his  formal 
welcome,  August,  1917,  by  the  City  of  New 
York,  after  his  mission  to  Russia,  gave  his  hearers 
and  the  American  public  a  shock  when  he  stated 
that  some  of  the  trouble  in  Russia  had  been 
stirred  up  by  Russians  who  returned  home  from 
America,  disgruntled  with  our  institutions. 

** These  men  (native  Russian  Socialists),  aided 
by  thousands  who  had  swarmed  back  to  Russia 
from  America,  thousands  who  returned  vilifying 
and  abusing  the  land  that  gave  them  refuge,  gave 
them  security,  gave  them  liberty  to  think  and 
speak  and  act;  these  men  returned  to  Russia,  de- 
claring America  to  be  as  tyrannous  as  the  Czar, 
and  calling  for  the  destruction,  not  for  the  set- 
ting up,  of  competent  government  in  Russia,  but 
for  the  destruction  of  all  governments — of  Amer- 
ica, of  England,  of  France,  of  Italy,  and,  inciden- 
tally, of  Germany.  They  poisoned  the  minds  of 
the  working-men  and  of  peasants  and  of  soldiers. 
Their  definite  and  distinct  object  was  to  destroy 
the  whole  industrial  and  national  system  of  Rus- 
sia. And  they  had  the  power  in  Petrograd,  for 
there  at  the  beginning  the  garrison  adhered  to 
them." 

45 


46     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

As  the  months  have  passed,  other  Americans 
have  returned  from  ampler  observations  in  Rus- 
sia, for  instance  Colonel  W.  B.  Thompson  and 
Mr.  Ernest  Poole,  whose  reports  are  more  re- 
assuring as  to  the  personnel  and  spirit  of  the 
Russian  Revolution.  What  is  more,  our  govern- 
ment has  directly  addressed  to  the  Russian  people 
sympathetic  and  encouraging  greetings. 

We  have  learned  also  to  our  surprise  how 
closely  foreign  liberals  keep  track  of  international 
happenings.  We  better  understand  the  hostility 
excited  in  the  Russian  Republic  by  our  **Mooney 
trial,''  our  race  riots,  deportations,  burnings  at 
the  stake  and  lynchings.  What  can  be  less  at- 
tractive to  a  new  democracy  than  the  mistakes  of 
older  democracies? 

We  should  not  resent  criticism  from  Petrograd 
when  we  have  quite  as  harshly  criticized  our- 
selves. 

An  official  commissioner  of  California,  in  his 
report  upon  industrial  outrages  in  that  State, 
likened  them  to  Russian  outrages  under  the  old 
regime,  and  Colonel  Weinstock  had  visited  Rus- 
sia. Our  working-classes  call  our  police  **  Cos- 
sacks.'' 

John  Graham  Brooks,  in  his  volume,  **  Ameri- 
can Syndicalism,"  published  in  1913,  writes  as 
follows:  **No  less  fateful  is  it  that  syndicalism 
comes  among  us  at  a  time  when  the  general  atmos- 
phere is  electric  with  rude  and  querulous  discon- 
tent; when  censure  of  our  main  stabilities,  con- 


WORKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     47 

stitutions,  courts,  judges,  will  bring  applause  to 
any  general  audience  in  the  United  States.  This 
criticism  of  our  *  secular  sanctities*  is  not  in  the 
least  an  affair  of  mobs  alone.  It  speaks  openly 
and  unashamed  in  the  books  and  utterances  of 
scholars  and  first-rate  publicists.  In  nearly  300 
regular  socialist  periodicals,  this  defiant  criticism 
has  become  the  habitual  reading  of  some  millions 
of  our  inhabitants.  I  have  heard  a  large  working- 
class  audience  burst  into  uproarious  guffaws  at 
this  sentence  spoken  from  the  platform:  *No  so- 
ciety could  exist  that  did  not  respect  its  courts 
of  justice.'  A  very  able  university  president  re- 
cently attempted  the  defense  of  our  conserving 
institutions  in  a  popular  arena.  He  was  so 
heckled  and  worsted  that  he  left  the  meeting  feel- 
ing, as  he  told  me,  that  4hey  thoroughly  wiped 
the  floor  with  me.*  ''  * 

We  must  remember,  too,  that  thousands  of  Rus- 
sians are  followers  of  Tolstoy,  who,  surrounded  by 
absolutist  governments  and  aggressive  national 
ambitions,  despaired  of  the  spirit  of  nationality 
as  large  enough  to  embrace  unselfishly  the  needs 
of  struggling  humanity. 

**  Tolstoy  thought  patriotism  was  stupid  and 
immoral.  He  said  it  was  stupid  because  it  made 
every  country  think  itself  superior  to  other  coun- 
tries, and  immoral  because  it  made  one  country 
take  advantage  of  another.  No  patriot  in  the 
accepted  sense,  he  said,  could  be  a  Christian. '' t 

*Pp    101-102. 

f  Francis  B.  Reeves,  "  Russia  Then  and  Now." 


48     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

When  Miss  Wald,  of  the  Henry  Street  Settle- 
ment (and  there  is  no  higher  authority  upon  the 
mental  attitude  of  Russian  immigrants),  was 
asked  to  comment  upon  Mr.  Root's  criticism  of 
immigrants  who  had  returned  to  Russia  from 
America  and  condemned  our  democracy,  she  re- 
plied that  the  majority  of  the  immigrants  she 
saw  she  believed  to  be  peculiarly  American  and 
patriotic.  I  should  say  the  same  thing.  Perhaps 
the  trouble  is  that  the  immigrant  is  too  American 
and  bores  us  by  always  quoting  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Some  of 
our  countrymen  are  a  little  tired  of  these  exhibits. 

An  American  ambassador  in  Europe,  a  man  of 
large  wealth,  expressed  the  fear,  when  Mr.  Wilson 
was  elected  President,  I  am  told,  that,  now  de- 
mocracy was  in  the  saddle,  America  would  send 
over,  to  replace  him  as  ambassador,  *  *  some  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  sort  of  man,  who,"  he  said,  ^Svould 
never  go  here.*' 

In  an  audience  composed  mostly  of  working- 
people,  the  invited  speaker,  a  gentleman  of  im- 
portance, could  not  recall  some  phrases  of  Lin- 
coln's Gettysburg  address,  which  he  groped  for 
in  the  course  of  his  speech.  They  were  supplied 
quietly  from  the  floor  by  a  Russian  boy  who  had 
been  but  a  short  time  in  this  country.  Which  of 
these  two,  the  ambassador  or  the  Russian  boy, 
should  you  call  the  more  promising  American? 


WORKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     49 

Unfoetunate  Linking  of  Patbiotism  with 
Patrimony 

A  spirit  of  disillusioned  criticism  is  well  known 
to  speakers  in  meetings  of  working-men.  When 
supporters  of  President  Wilson  at  public  meet- 
ings quoted  his  watchword,  that  America  was  to 
make  the  world  a  safe  place  for  democracy,  the 
speaker  could  usually  expect  a  laugh  from  the 
audience  and  a  sneering  rejoinder,  ^  *  Show  us  your 
democracy'';  or,  *^They  have  more  democracy 
now  in  Europe  than  America  has."  I  have  also 
heard  working-men  cry  out,  **Why  should  I  fight 
for  a  country  where  I  do  not  own  a  shovelful  of 
mudr'  A  labor  leader,  Kruse,  before  the  Senate 
Military  Committee,  previous  to  the  return  of  the 
Army  Bill  to  the  Senate  for  debate,  said,  **What 
have  my  men  got  to  fight  for!  They  have  no 
homes  and  no  country.  Why  should  they  be 
forced  to  shed  their  blood  for  the  capitalists  T' 
Their  landlessness  and  helplessness  had  destroyed 
their  sense  of  patriotic  relation  or  obligation. 
Patrimony  and  patriotism,  in  their  minds,  go 
together. 

Let  us  not  be  too  hard  upon  perplexed  immi- 
grants who  come  to  us  with  impracticable  hopes, 
in  their  moments  of  extreme  disappointment. 
The  average  American  is  not  aware  that  America 
has  lagged  in  the  marching  column  of  democracy ; 
but  Winston  Churchill  wrote  in  the  New  York 


50     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Times,  of  December  2, 1917,  after  visiting  Europe : 
*  *  Today  it  is  safe  to  say  we  have  become  the  most 
conservative  of  the  nations  of  the  western  world. 
We  were  once  the  most  radical. ' ' 

Is  Patriotism  More  Pronounced  in  a  Predatory 

Class? 

Besides  disgruntled  immigrants  there  were  in 
the  United  States  many  working-men  who  were 
not  keen  to  enter  the  war,  but  who  accepted  the 
action  of  the  government  and  have  supported  it 
with  their  lives,  their  labor,  their  savings  and  with 
high  spirit. 

If  we  follow  Mr.  Veblen's  social  analysis  and 
divide  classes  into  predatory  and  industrial,  we 
can  easily  understand  how  the  industrial,  with  its 
long  descent  or  its  self-chosen  ideals,  would  be 
inert  toward  a  military  program. 

Four  things  in  our  democracy  made  it  slow  to 
turn  to  a  military  settlement : 

1.  An  increasing  intelligence  and  confidence  in  rea- 
son. In  a  popular  government  force  is  naturally  the 
last  word. 

2.  ThB  association  of  war  with  national  economic 
rivalries  and  capitalistic  competition  which  are  viewed 
unsjonpathetically  by  wage-earners. 

3.  The  lessening  of  national  egotism  and  selfishness 
by  the  fusion  of  many  races,  which  tends  to  destroy 
racial  theories  of  superiority. 

4.  The  growing  sense  of  the  value  of  life  which  is  a 
product  of  democracy. 


WORKJNG-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     51 

Mr.  George  Louis  Beer  points  out  in  his  book, 
**The  English  Speaking  People*'  (where  he  urges 
a  hearty  rapprochement  between  Great  Britain 
and  America),  that  international  anarchy  is  the 
result  of  the  theory  of  national  sovereignty.  But 
this  power  of  the  nation  to  regulate  its  own  af- 
fairs, free  from  outside  interference,  is  new  and 
hardly  won.  For  a  thousand  years  the  fight  in 
Western  Europe  was  between  emerging  national 
sovereignty  and  the  old  ecclesiastical  control  by 
the  Roman  Church.  This  fight  nationality  won. 
Then  political  democracy  emerged  and  controlled 
the  nation.  The  industrial  democracy  arose 
and  led  the  people.  Now  the  working  popula- 
tion of  Europe  and  America  are  trying  to  get 
together,  which  is  the  meaning  of  internation- 
alism. 

Under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Gompers  trade- 
unionism  in  America  has  more  and  more  formally 
placed  itself  by  the  side  of  the  government.  The 
war  Socialists  joined  them.  Later  even  pacifist 
Socialists  took  a  military  attitude.  They  per- 
ceived that  the  Russian  working-men  were  be- 
trayed in  their  idealistic  hopes,  when  they  fancied 
that  if  they  refused  to  fire  upon  their  German 
brothers,  and  laid  down  their  arms,  the  German 
working-men  in  the  army  and  out  of  it  would 
revolt  against  their  masters. 

In  addition  to  this  psychological  experience 
they  were  convinced  of  the  Kaiser's  imperialistic 
program   when    Germany    continued    to    attack 


52     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Russia  after  it  had  thrown  down  its  arms  and 
signed  a  peace  compact. 

From  the  deeper  view  of  democratic  strength 
it  is  a  matter  for  American  self-congratulation 
that  all  its  classes  were  not  responsive  to  the 
military  situation  from  one  motive — that  they 
were  not  whipped  into  line  by  the  government — 
but  in  the  true  spirit  of  America  had  to  be 
** shown.''  Nothing  could  be  a  greater  guarantee 
of  the  intelligent  principles  leading  our  common 
life  than  this  insistence  upon  an  appeal  to  reason 
which  has  finally  brought  the  whole  country  be- 
hind the  President's  policy.  At  any  rate,  if  our 
working-people  came  to  the  colors  in  successive 
waves,  depending  upon  home-made  or  foreign- 
made  arguments,  no  one  can  impugn  their  loyalty. 

Labor  in  England,  during  the  war,  has  not  only 
come  to  a  new  power  but  to  new  esteem.  The 
British  Munitions  Commission,  which  visited  the 
United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1917,  told  me  that 
the  labor  leaders  had  been  singularly  loyal  to 
their  agreements  to  the  government.  The  mili- 
tary critic  of  the  highest  repute  in  England, 
Colonel  Repington,  in  an  interview  at  the  time 
of  his  resignation  from  the  Times,  declared: 
**  Labor  has  been  splendid  throughout  the  war 
and  I  have  every  confidence  in  labor."  (New 
York  Times,  January  22,  1918.) 

The  word  patriotism  comes  from  the  Latin 
word  pater,  father,  and  could  be  defined  in  old 
Roman  terms  as  piety,  or  filial  respect  towards 


WORKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     53 

one's  native  land  or  adopted  country.  But 
modern  patriotism  has  undergone  the  same 
change  that  family  sentiment  displays.  Children 
of  a  hundred  years  ago  feared  and  obeyed  their 
parents.  Children  of  today  hold  their  parents 
responsible.  The  citizen  of  the  past  felt  his 
obligation  to  the  state.  He  now  feels  the  state's 
obligation  to  him. 

This  changed  attitude,  this  demand  upon  the 
parental  concern  of  the  state,  is  further  intensi- 
fied by  a  changed  view  of  the  meaning  and  plan 
of  politics.  The  working-people  used  to  think  that 
all  power  proceeded  from  political  control.  They 
now  believe  that  real  power  proceeds  from  indus- 
trial control  and  that  politics,  little  better  than  a 
camouflage,  conceals  this  deeper  economic  control. 
Politics  then  being  the  expression  rather  than  the 
source  of  power,  the  working-men  no  longer  look 
to  it  for  the  benefits  promised  by  parties  but 
demand  for  themselves  an  influence  that  corre- 
sponds to  their  economic  importance. 

But  the  patriotism  of  the  working-men  of  the 
world  we  must  admit  is  founded  not  so  much  upon 
their  satisfaction  with  their  countries  as  they  find 
them,  as  it  is  with  an  ideal  that  is  becoming 
clearer  and  clearer  to  the  working-classes  of  all 
lands,  which  they  fervently  believe  their  country 
specially  qualified  to  realize.  Not  only  are  they 
fighting  Hohenzollern  imperialism  but  any  kind  of 
dynastic,  political,  or  even  industrial  imperialism, 
the  world  over. 


54     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Through  the  smoke  of  war,  democracy  has  at 
last  discerned  its  vision  of  a  world  government 
by  the  honest  aims  of  humanity  everywhere.  The 
workers  reach  out  towards  all  upbuilding  human 
opportunities  which  their  toil,  when  educated  and 
properly  guided,  can  more  than  adequately  pay 
for  in  the  increased  production  of  wealth,  which 
the  future,  organized  industrially  and  democrati- 
cally, can  easily  create. 

If  in  the  past  it  was  land  that  united  us  because 
with  our  enormous  public  domain  everyone  might 
hope  for  a  home,  we  must  again  relate  land  to 
the  people  or  unite  them  by  a  new  property  pos- 
session. Land  is  only  a  gauge  of  security.  What 
our  working-people  want  is  security. 

The  labor  movement  in  New  York  as  early  as 
1829  made  radical  demands  based  on  the  neces- 
sary exclusion  of  mechanics  from  the  land.  A 
preamble  drawn  up  by  Thomas  Skidmore,  a  me- 
chanic, lays  it  down  *4n  the  first  form  of  govern- 
ment no  man  gives  up  to  others  his  original  right 
of  soil  and  becomes  a  smith,  a  weaver,  a  builder, 
or  other  mechanic  or  laborer,  without  receiving  a 
guaranty  that  reasonable  toil  shall  enable  him  to 
live  as  comfortably  as  others.'' 

Making  Patriots  by  Economic  Security 

All  cannot  live  as  farmers  on  the  land  but  the 
land  can  serve  all.  All  cannot  raise  their  own 
food  but  there  can  be  food  for  all.     Let  us  recog- 


WORKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     55 

nize  the  fact  that  the  man  out  of  a  job,  who  is 
left  to  roam  about  and  waste  his  time  till  he  finds 
one,  while  his  family  starves,  has  nothing  to  be 
patriotic  about. 

Let  us  make  him  a  patriot  by  making  him  eco- 
nomically secure. 

''Men  care  but  little  about  the  form  of  government 
under  which  they  live  as  long  as  they  are  industrially 
free.  Neither  politics  or  religious  persecution  dislodge 
the  property-owning  class.  So  strong  is  the  tie  of  prop- 
erty, of  even  a  little  property,  that  men  suffer  every 
sort  of  oppression  rather  than  abandon  their  native 
homes.  It  is  poverty  that  drives  men  to  dare  the 
unknown.*'  * 

But  poverty  can  kill  patriotism  today  as  easily 
as  in  the  past;  if  you  would  develop  patriotism 
abolish  poverty. 

Will  Crooks,  the  London  M.  C.  and  M.  P.,  who 
opposed  the  Boer  War,  supports  Great  Britain 
in  its  fight  against  Germany.  The  difference  to 
him  was  the  danger  in  the  present  war  of  the 
Germans  violating  the  English  working-man's 
home. 

The  final  compulsion  in  America  that  caused 
the  well-to-do  to  enter  the  war  was  their  per- 
suasion that  Germany,  if  victorious,  would  levy 
tribute  on  the  United  States  and  when  she  got 
ready  carve  up  our  country. 

*  Frederic  C.  Howe,  "Privilege  and  Democracy  in  America," 
p.  13. 


56     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

If  the  American  working-men  do  not  share  the 
fears  of  Will  Crooks  as  to  their  women  folk,  nor 
the  fears  of  the  American  privileged  class  as  to 
property,  why  should  they  then  be  easily  stirred 
to  war?  That  they  have  so  largely  accepted 
the  situation  is  due  to  their  confidence  in  the 
policies  of  President  Wilson ;  it  is  a  confirmation 
of  their  idealistic  attachment  to  the  land  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  emancipated  black  slave, 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  know 
ware-earners  who  have  joyfully  put  their  savings 
for  a  vacation  into  Liberty  Bonds. 

The  working-people  see  that  there  must  be 
something  to  give  order  and  restraint  where  mil- 
lions live  together.  They  also  see  that  **  govern- 
ment as  a  rule  is  a  plus  quantity,''  but  their  eyes 
are  now  opened  by  the  publicity  given  to  diplo- 
matic interchange,  to  the  manipulation  of  govern- 
ment in  the  interest  of  families  and  oligarchies 
to  an  unbelievable  extent.  They  have  new  reason 
to  fear  ^* governing  classes,''  secret  diplomacy, 
militarism,  and  the  pushing  of  successful  capi- 
talism into  an  aristocratic  realm  of  stupendous 
waste.  The  diplomatic  revelations  of  this  war 
have  given  arguments  to  anarchy ;  for  all  the  suf- 
ferers can  blame  *^ government." 

The  exhibition  of  loyal  attachment  shown  by 
our  working-people  has  been  amazing.  Labor  or- 
ganizations have  passed  votes  of  approval  of  the 
government  and  promised  co-operation.  Seven 
hundred  foreign  language  papers  have  sent  to 


WOEKING-MAN  AND  PATRIOTISM     57 

the  President  assertions  of  loyalty.  No  draft 
riots.  No  German-American  riots.  An  orderly 
acceptance  of  an  orderly  program.  An  army  of 
a  million  and  a  half  enrolled  for  a  war  three 
thousand  miles  away,  which  has  been  pictured  to 
America  for  three  years  as  little  better  than  a 
holocaust  and  which  we  enter  for  no  material  ad- 
vantage. What  higher  evidences  of  patriotism 
from  our  working-men  do  we  want?  Criticism  is 
not  disloyalty;  complaint  is  not  sedition.  The 
most  devoted  families  are  often  those  that  indulge 
most  openly  in  plain  talk. 


IV 


THE  AMERICANIZING  OF  THE 
IMMIGRANT  WORKER 


Hack  and  Hew  were  the  sons  of  God 

In  the  earlier  earth  than  now: 
One  at  his  right  hand,  one  at  his  left, 

To  obey  as  he  taught  them  how. 

And  Hack  was  blind,  and  Hew  was  dumb, 

And  both  had  the  wild,  wild  heart; 
And  God's  calm  will  was   their  burning  will. 

And  the  gist  of  their  toil  was  art. 

Bliss  Cabiian. 

"  Fresh  come,  to  a  new  world  indeed,  yet  long  prepared, 
I  see  the  genius  of  the  modern,  child  of  the  real  and  ideal, 
Clearing  the  ground  for  broad  humanity,  the  true  America, 

heir  of  the  past  so  grand. 
To  build  a  grander  future." 

Walt  Whitman, 
"  Song  of  the  Redwood  Tree." 

"  The  solution  of  our  problem  of  immigration  finally  depends 
upon  the  extent  to  which  we  are  willing  to  give  to  the  worker 
a  larger  share  of  the  wealth  he  produces. 

"  Abolish  poverty,  transform  deficit  into  surplus,  fill  depletion 
with  energy,  and  the  ascribed  heredity  of  the  poor  will  vanish 
with  its  causes.  No  slow  elimination  of  characters  need  pre- 
cede the  transformation  of  the  servile  man  into  the  straight- 
forward, fearless  comrade.  His  essential  characters  are  not 
manifest  in  him  as  we  see  him;  they  are  revealed  by  those 
descendants  of  earlier  poverty  men  who  have  broken  the  bonds 
that  held  them  in  want.  Their  constructive  imagination,  their 
foresight,  their  emancipation  from  superstition  and  fear,  will 
be  his  also  as  soon  as  he  is  lifted  from  his  quagmire.  He  is 
what  he  is,  not  through  lack  of  character,  but  through  the  sup- 
pression of  it.  A  steady  surplus  will  do  for  him  what  it  has 
done  for  workers  who  have  long  experienced  ease  and  enjoyed 
their  security  in  nature.  Nothing  but  the  rise  of  the  masses  to 
a  plane  above  uncertainties  of  income  can  give  to  society  an  im- 
proving, physical  heredity." 

Simon  N.  Patten, 
■  The  New  Basis  of  Civilization,  p.  43. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE     AMERICANIZING     OF     THE     IMMI- 
GRANT   WORKER 

IMMIGRATION  is  called  by  some  economists 
''•  America's  biggest  problem.  For  us  it  is  the 
outward  facing  side  of  the  world's  greatest  prob- 
lem— human  migration.  Our  intelligence  about 
the  flow  of  the  foreign-born  into  America  will  be 
quickened  if  we  picture  it  as  part  of  the  endless 
racial  roaming  that  included  in  the  Glacial  period 
the  coming  of  the  negroid  races  into  Europe;  in 
historic  times  the  diffusion  from  central  Asia  of 
the  Aryan  peoples;  the  assaults  of  Hun,  Vandal, 
and  Goth  upon  the  Roman  Empire ;  the  overthrow 
of  the  Byzantine  Empire  by  the  Turks;  the  dis- 
covery and  settlement  of  the  western  hemisphere ; 
**the  winning  of  the  west*';  the  stampede  of 
American  farmers  to  Canada's  virgin  soils  and 
the  eruption  of  the  Southern  negroes  into  the 
North.  Our  immigration  problem  is  seen  more 
clearly  if  we  remember  that  Japan,  China,  and 
India  ** export  labor";  that  all  Asia's  eight  hun- 
dred millions  must  be  spread  more  equably  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth.  Russia's  land  hunger 
which  has  absorbed  a  seventh  of  the  world's  sur- 

61 


62       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

face;  Germany's  ambition  for  a  place  in  the  sun 
for  her  increasing  numbers;  Great  Britain's 
colonial  system  with  sea-control  of  trade  routes, 
are  phases  of  race  migration  which  on  the  sur- 
face account  for  the  European  war. 

The  European  war  has  somewhat  confused  the 
subject  of  immigration  in  the  United  States. 
Already  thousands  of  immigrants,  without  apply- 
ing for  our  citizenship,  have  returned  to  their 
own  countries  to  join  the  colors,  leaving  a 
smaller  number  of  foreign-born  persons  in  our 
population.  Meanwhile,  immigration  has  dropped 
from  1,197,892  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1913, 
to  298,826  for  1916. 

In  the  midst  of  these  unprecedented  conditions, 
the  United  States  has  passed  a  more  stringent 
immigration  law  which  requires  a  literacy  test. 
Just  now  the  foreigner  does  not  want  us  and  we 
do  not  want  the  foreigner. 

Since  the  Russian  revolution  a  second  return 
wave  to  Europe  of  immigrants  has  taken  place. 
The  Russian  Jews  in  America  may  exchange  their 
remote  Zionism  for  the  immediate  expectations  of 
Russian  citizenship.  At  any  rate,  many  of  them 
seem  to  prefer  the  East  with  its  hopes,  to  the  West 
with  its  reality, — for  thousands  are  talking  of 
returning  there.  Palestine,  too,  is  beckoning 
afresh  the  old  Zionists. 

The  most  impressive  sight  to  be  seen  in  normal 
years  in  America  is  the  stream  of  immigrants 
coming  off  ship  at  Ellis  Island.     No  waterfall 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     63 

or  mountain  holds  such  awesome  mystery;  no 
river  or  harbor,  embracing  the  navies  of  the 
world,  expresses  such  power;  no  city  so  puts 
wings  to  the  imagination;  no  work  of  art  calls 
with  such  epic  beauty.  But  there  are  spectators 
who  behold  in  the  procession  from  overseas  an 
invading  army  comparable  to  the  Gothic  hordes 
that  overran  Rome,  and  who  lament  this  meeting 
of  Europe  and  America  as  the  first  act  in  our 
National  Tragedy, 

What  Is  Meant  by  the  Americanization  of  the 
Immigrant  Worker? 

To  Americanize  is  to  mould  into  competent  in- 
stitutions the  human  ideals  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence ;  it  is  a  process  to  which  the  native- 
born  as  well  as  the  immigrant  must  submit,  and 
to  which  the  immigrant  more  than  the  native-born 
may  haply  contribute. 

Undoubtedly  we  have  a  situation  unknown  to 
any  other  nation,  past  or  present.  In  1910  the 
total  population  of  the  United  States  was  91,972,- 
266 ;  of  these  13,343,583  were  foreign-born  whites ; 
10,239,579  were  negroes,  Indians,  and  Asiatics. 
Between  1900-1910,  9,555,673  immigrants  came  in 
from  over  fifty  races.  Of  the  native  whites  forty- 
seven  per  cent,  are  the  children  of  foreign-born 
parents.  Of  our  entire  population  43,972,185 
were  born  of  native  white  parents — that  is,  only 
forty  per  cent. 


64       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  League  for  Limiting  Lnmigration  takes  a 
pessimistic  view  of  the  future  of  American  ideals 
under  the  influence  of  race  mixture  and  quotes 
Gobineau :  *  *  America  is  likely  to  be  not  the  cradle 
of  a  new,  but  the  grave  of  an  old  race.**  * 

A  volume,  **The  Problem  of  Immigration,"  pub- 
lished by  Professor  Jenks  and  Professor  Lauck, 
ought  to  modify  considerably  a  pessimistic  fore- 
cast. Both  the  authors  were  from  the  beginning 
connected  with  the  United  States  Immigration 
Commission.  They  have  summed  up  in  their  484 
pages  the  information  collected  in  forty-two  vol- 
umes of  the  original  material  published  by  the 
Commission. 

The  Conceit  of  Oub  American  Superiority 

Broadly  speaking,  our  apprehension  of  harm 
to  American  ideals  from  race  mixture  is  nothing 
but  prejudice.  Much  of  our  dread  of  a  deteriora- 
tion of  the  American  stock  by  immigration  is  a 
survival  of  ancient  jealousy  and  alarm  which  once 
characterized  the  contact  of  all  ** natives'*  every- 
where with  all  **foreigners.'*  The  sight  of  a 
foreigner  meant  ordinarily  a  raid  or  a  war. 
This  is  still  the  case  among  children  today.  They 
revile  and  attack  the  foreigner.  In  America 
every  new  race  of  immigrants  has  had  to  fight 
its  way  to  peace  and  safety  in  the  community 
where  it  settled.    Boys  and  hoodlums  insulted  it, 

*  North  American  Review,  Vol.  195,  pp.  94-102. 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     65 

stoned  it,  stole  from  it,  mimicked  it,  pulled  Jew- 
ish beards  and  Chinese  pig-tails,  while  their 
elders  were  exploiting  it  industrially. 

Another  element  in  our  fear  is  the  fetish  of 
Teutonic  superiority  and  the  dogma  of  Latin  de- 
generacy. Races  that  have  produced  in  our  life- 
time a  Cavour,  a  Mazzini,  a  Marconi,  a  Louis  Pas- 
teur, a  Joffre,  a  Bergson,  that  have  fought  and 
defeated  ecclesiastic  and  feudal  enemies  in  their 
own  households,  I  venture  to  think  have  still  much 
to  teach  us.  The  stability  of  the  French  in  their 
political  and  military  program  is  the  outstanding 
fact  of  the  European  war.  As  for  Italy,  American 
officials  there  believe  its  modern  progress  beyond 
that  of  any  country  in  Europe. 

In  the  Conference  on  Immigration  held  in 
New  York  a  few  years  ago,  there  were  delegates 
scarcely  able  to  speak  the  English  language  who 
orated  against  later  arrivals  in  this  country  than 
themselves  and  predicted  our  downfall  if  they 
were  admitted.  In  short,  each  race  considers 
itself  superior;  its  diatribes  against  other  races 
are  sheer  vanity.  We  Americans,  in  conceit  of 
superiority,  are  in  the  same  class  as  the  Chinese. 
In  the  words  of  a  well-known  writer  on  Asiatic 
people, 

**  after  an  adult  lifetime  of  study  of  the  peoples  of  the 
Far  East,  I  find  few  or  no  novelties  in  their  history  or 
evolution  as  compared  with  that  of  our  own  rise  from 
savagery  to  civilization;  nor  is  their  human  nature  by 
a  hair's-breadth  different  from  our  own.    What  we  need 


66      FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

now  to  have  cast  in  the  world 's  melting-pot  is  the  colossal 
conceit  common  to  the  white  and  the  yellow  man  with 
more  scientific  comparative  history.'* 


Demockacy  Extends  a  Standing  Invitation 

At  any  rate,  our  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment is  a  standing  invitation  to  the  oppressed  of 
other  countries,  and  our  undeveloped  wealth 
makes  a  constant  demand  for  strong  arms  and 
hard  workers.  What  then  can  we  do?  We  can- 
not shut  out  ^^foreigners''  and  still  be  true  either 
to  our  own  ideals  or  to  our  practical  require- 
ments. Nor  can  we  pick  and  choose.  There  is  no 
accepted  standard  of  excellence  except  health, 
morals,  and  ** literacy.''  No  race  monopolizes 
these.  Moreover,  there  are  not  enough  of  one 
foreign  stock,  were  we  permitted  to  select  one  as 
the  best,  to  do  the  work  in  the  United  States  which 
waits  to  be  done. 

The  forms  of  government  under  which  men  live 
are  not  stereotyped,  and,  while  some  change 
slowly,  others  in  response  to  the  needs  of  the 
people  change  rapidly.  A  democracy  is  the  most 
plastic  form  and  gives  freest  course  to  evolu- 
tionary development.  There  is,  consequently,  a 
natural  flow  from  rigid  to  plastic  governments, 
which  can  only  be  checked  by  the  plastic  becoming 
set.    This  it  cannot  do  without  committing  suicide. 

One  of  our  mistakes  (an  important  cause,  too, 
of  our  distrust  of  race  mixture)   is  to  suppose 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     67 

that  our  own  form  of  government  is  fixed  and 
changeless.  A  republican  form  of  government  is 
created  for  the  sake  of  making  change  possible. 
A  democracy  should  not  fear  an  extension  of 
popular  freedom;  it  should  only  fear  the  re- 
actionary and  stand-patter,  who  have  no  proper 
place  in  such  a  fabric. 

A  Problem  not  of  Nature  but  of  Nurture 

The  scientific  attitude  toward  heredity  is  today 
different  from  a  generation  ago.  Darwin 's  theory 
of  slowly  acquired  characteristics  and  of  the 
transmission  by  heredity  of  acquired  character- 
istics was  attacked  by  August  Weismann,  whose 
germ-plasm  theory  of  heredity  seriously  weakened 
Darwin's  hypothesis.  Then  came  the  botanist, 
De  Vries,  with  his  theory  of  spasmodic  progress, 
amounting  to  **  spasmodic  appearance  of  species 
at  a  given  time  under  the  influence  of  certain 
special  conditions.'' 

Francis  Galton  brought  forward  the  theory  of 
mathematical  inheritance,  which,  modified  by 
Pearson,  amounts  to  this :  That  of  all  the  heritage 
which  an  individual  possesses  one-half  on  the  av- 
erage comes  from  his  parents,  one-fourth  from  his 
grandparents,  and  so  on.  Meanwhile,  the  studies 
of  Gregor  Mendel,  Abbot  of  Brunn,  neglected  for 
thirty-five  years  after  their  publication  in  1865, 
came  to  light,  with  a  specific  body  of  botanical 
experiments  leading  to  certain  general  principles 


68       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

of  heredity.  The  essential  part  of  Mendel's  dis- 
coveries is  the  principle  of  the  segregation  of 
characters  in  the  fusion  of  the  reproductive  cells 
or  gametes,  and  its  natural  corollary,  the  purity 
of  the  gametes.  Mendel  did  not  believe  in  blends, 
but  in  the  unit  character  of  heredity. 

Two  theories  of  heredity  are  now  current : 

**1.  Children  show  a  tendency  to  revert  to  a  type 
intermediate  between  the  types  of  the  two  parents,  or 
in  cases  of  changes  of  types  to  another  type,  dependent 
upon  the  mid-parental  type.  In  other  words,  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  parents  are  blended  in  the  children. 

*'2.  Either  the  father's  or  the  mother's  type,  or  the 
type  of  a  more  remote  ancestor,  is  reproduced,  and  cer- 
tain parental  traits  may  be  dominant  over  others — i.  e., 
one  particular  trait,  either  father's  or  mother's,  to  ap- 
pear with  greater  frequency  in  the  children  than  the 
corresponding  but  different  trait  of  the  other  parent. ' '  * 

MendePs  law  attaches  so  much  value  to  **  domi- 
nant'' and  so  much  danger  to  ** recessive"  units 
that  under  his  theory  it  would  be  natural  to  try 
to  divide  races  into  the  old  categories  of  sheep 
and  goats.  But  even  under  the  operation  of  his 
law  a  mixed  race  has  advantages  over  a  pure 
race. 

**The  clear  lesson  of  Mendelian  studies  to  human  so- 
ciety is  this:  That  when  two  parents  with  the  same 
defect  marry — and  there  is  none  of  us  without  some 

♦  "  Change  in  Bodily  Form  of  Descendants  of  Immigrants/'  by 
Franz  Boas. 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     69 

defect — all  of  the  progeny  must  have  the  same  defect, 
and  there  is  no  remedy  for  the  defect  by  education,  but 
only,  at  the  most  in  a  few  cases,  by  a  surgical  operation. 
The  presence  of  a  character  in  one  parent  will  dominate 
over  its  absence  in  the  other  parent;  .  .  ,  the  advanced 
position  masters  the  retarded  or  absent  condition/^ 


**The  mating  of  dissimilar s  favors  a  comhi/na- 
tion  in  the  offspring  of  the  strongest  character- 
istics of  both  parents  and  fits  them  the  better 
for  human  society, '  *  *  A  strong  argument  for 
the  blending  of  races. 

Environment  today  is  considered  a  most  im- 
portant factor  in  heredity  by  students  outside 
the  ranks  of  pure  biologists.  What  a  surprising 
fact — that  the  intellectual  classes  among  the  Mag- 
yars, the  Uralo-Altaic  peoples,  the  Slavs  or 
German  races,  furnish  us  with  identical  measure- 
ments of  trunk,  extremities,  etc.,  whereas  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  race  differ  considerably  when 
once  distinctly  separated  by  their  occupations! 
Another  fact  of  similar  significance  is  that  the 
measurements  of  Austrian  Jews  correspond  en- 
tirely with  those  that  Gould  mentioned  in  the  case 
of  cultivated  persons  in  the  United  States.  The 
Austrian  Jews  are  not  engaged  in  mercantile 
work,  but  almost  exclusively  are  money-lenders, 
small  shop-keepers,  lawyers,  and  doctors.f 

*  Charles  B.  Davenport,  "  Influence  of  Heredity  on  Human  So- 
ciety/' in  Annals  of  American  Academy,  July  1,  1909. 
t  Jean  Finot,  in  "Race  Prejudice,"  p.  122. 


70       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

We  all  agree  with  Professor  Ripley  that 

**the  first  impression  from  comparison  of  our  original 
Anglo-Saxon  ancestry  in  America  with  the  motley  crowd 
now  pouring  in  upon  us  is  not  cheering.  It  seems  a 
hopeless  task  to  cope  with  them,  to  assimilate  them  with 
our  present  native-born  population." 

But  listen  further: 

*'Yet  there  are  distinctly  encouraging  features  about 
it  all.  These  people,  in  the  main,  have  excellent  physical 
qualities,  in  spite  of  unfavorable  environment  and  po- 
litical oppression  for  generations.  No  finer  physical 
type  than  the  peasantry  of  Austro-Hungary  are  to  be 
found  in  Europe.  The  Italians,  with  an  out-of-door  life 
and  proper  food,  are  not  weaklings.  Nor  is  even  the 
stunted  and  sedentary  Jew — the  third  greatest  in  our 
present  immigrant  hordes — an  unfavorable  vital  speci- 
men. Their  careful  religious  regulations  have  produced 
in  them  a  longevity  even  under  most  unfavorable  con- 
ditions. Even  to-day,  under  normal  conditions,  a  rough 
process  of  selection  is  at  work  to  bring  the  better  types 
to  our  shores.  We  receive,  in  the  main,  the  besjt,  the 
most  progressive  and  alert  of  the  peasantry  that  the 
lower  classes  which  these  lands  recently  tapped  are  able 
to  offer.  This  is  a  feature  of  no  mean  importance.  Bar- 
ring artificial  selection  by  steamship  companies  and 
police,  we  need  not  complain  in  the  main  of  the  physique 
of  new  arrivals." 

^*Tlie  great  problem  for  us  in  dealing  with  these  immi- 
grants is  not  that  of  their  nature,  hut  that  of  their 
nurture.' '  * 

*  William  Z,  Ripley,  in  "  Race  Progress  and  Immigration,"  in 
Annals  of  American  Academy,  July,  1909,  pp.  130-138. 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     71 

**We  Americans  who  have  so  often  seen  the  children 
of  underfed,  stunted,  scrub  immigrants  match  the  native 
American  in  brain  and  brawn  ought  to  realize  how  much 
the  superior  effectiveness  of  the  latter  is  due  to  social 
conditions. ' '  * 

The  races  coming  to  America  show  power  of 
adaptation.  But  as  this  power  of  adaptation 
must  be  slow,  we  must  be  patient.  It  was  slow 
among  the  best  of  the  early  colonists. 

'^Not  merely  do  the  children  of  immigrants  in  many 
instances  show  greater  height  and  weight  than  the  same 
races  in  their  mother  country y  hut  in  some  instances  even 
the  head  form,  which  has  always  been  considered  one 
of  the  most  stable  and  permanent  characteristics  of 
races,  undergoes  very  great  changes.*'  f 

**But  the  important  fact  to  be  kept  in  mind  is  that 
whatever  the  cause  may  be,  and  whether  the  change  in 
type  is  for  the  better  or  worse,  the  influence  of  the  new 
environment  is  very  marked  indeed,  and  we  may  there- 
fore expect  that  the  degree  and  ease  of  assimilation  has 
probably  been  somewhat  greater  than  has  been  hereto- 
fore assumed.' '  t 

The  rapidity  of  the  race  assimilation  in  the 
United  States  is  proved  by  the  absence  of  racial 
domination  where  given  races  are  numerically 
m  the  ascendancy.  Professor  Boaz  finds  surpris- 
ing change  in  one  generation. 

*  E.  A.  Ross,  "  Causes  of  Race  Superiority,"  in  Annals  of 
American  Academy,  July,  1910. 

t"The  Immigration  Problem,"  by  Jenks  and  Lauck,  1912, 
p.  266.  tibid  ,  p  269. 


72       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

In  America  different  nationalities  are  subjected 
to  the  same  conditions.  Each  has  a  chance  to 
make  its  characteristic  dominant. 

Dr.  Ales  Hrdlicka,  of  the  National  Museum  of 
Washington,  studied  the  descendants  of  the  old 
American  stock  and  concludes  that  there  is  a 
strong  persistence  of  racial  characteristics,  but  he 
finds  variableness  and  diversity  to  the  varieties  of 
their  ancestors. 

He  seems,  however,  to  meet  Professor  Boas's 
theory  of  rapid  variability  in  finding  the  head 
more  variable  than  other  parts  of  the  body — for 
example,  the  face,  hand,  and  foot. 

Such  a  study,  however,  does  not  readily  meet 
the  situation,  as  the  older  families  have  kept  a 
good  deal  to  themselves  and  would  not  be  expected 
to  exhibit  the  amount  of  blend  that  is  likely  to  be 
seen  when  the  successful  members  of  later  racial 
groups  come  in  large  numbers  into  the  Colonial 
strains.  Even  then  MendePs  law  would  expect 
to  find  ** unity*'  inheritance  rather  than  blend. 
The  melting-pot  would  be  the  effect  of  institu- 
tions— of  physical  conditions,  environment,  and 
food ;  of  education,  of  freedom  of  movement  from 
one  class  to  another,  socially  and  industrially, 
rather  than  the  result  of  a  physiological  mixture 
of  the  Latin,  the  Teuton,  the  Saxon,  the  Celt,  Slav, 
Hebrew,  etc. 

Professor  Earl  Finch  presents  **some  facts 
tending  to  prove  that  race  blending,  especially  in 
the  rare  instances  when  it  occurs  under  favorable 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     73 

circumstances,  produces  a  type  superior  in  fer- 
tility, vitality,  and  cultural  worth  to  one  or  both 
of  the  parent  stocks.*' 

After  the  war  there  are  possibilities  of  other 
and  new  fields  for  the  sturdy  pioneers  than  those 
that  have  attracted  them  in  the  past.  Asia  Minor 
may  be  open  to  immigration  by  the  defeat  of  Ger- 
many and  Turkey.  If  Great  Britain  were  de- 
feated, an  outpouring  of  her  citizens  as  a  result 
of  her  restricted  industrial  organization  might  be 
expected. 

If  people  are  free  to  emigrate  and  capital  is 
also  free,  the  goal  of  both  will  be  those  countries 
where  there  is  most  profitable  employment — where 
high  pay  and  high  dividends  will  be  expected. 
Migration  is  the  human  drift  toward  opportunity, 
and  that  land  will  receive  the  largest  populations 
from  outside  which  has  the  most  to  offer. 

In  this  competition  South  America  may  outbid 
North  America  on  account  of  larger  amounts  of 
unsettled  land.  Canada  may  surpass  the  United 
States  in  this  race  for  the  same  reason.  Russia, 
Palestine,  Asia  Minor  may  excite  a  new  cry: 
Eastward,  ho!  If  more  of  Africa  should  come 
under  British  rule,  it  also  would  be  an  important 
center  of  new  populations. 

Professor  T.  N.  Carver,  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, who  has  recently  discussed  this  question, 
sees  at  any  rate  for  America  after  the  war  an 
immigration  of  an  inferior  quality  to  what  it  was 


74       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

before  the  outbreak,  and,  as  a  result,  a  more  acute 
stage  of  our  already  serious  labor  problem.  But 
suppose  we  receive  some  of  the  men  trained  in  the 
European  war  armies — these  ought  to  show  new 
physical  and  social  force. 

If  rumors  from  the  trenches  are  to  be  consid- 
ered in  this  question,  many  of  the  men  in  the 
European  armies,  who  have  been  gathered  in 
from  clerkships  and  other  indoor  occupations, 
ardently  declare  that  after  the  war  they  will  not 
go  back  to  their  desks,  but  will  emigrate  to  new 
conditions  favorable  for  health  and  independence. 

There  is  talk  of  laws  in  Europe  to  restrain 
emigration  in  behalf  of  the  upbuilding  of  ruined 
industries.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  thirty- 
seven  millions  of  soldiers  now  under  arms  return 
to  civil  life,  where  will  they  find  employment? 
Hard  times  may  be  expected  which  would  compel 
emigration.  America,  as  the  country  least  hurt 
by  the  war,  might  be  expected  to  be  less  depressed 
industrially  and  consequently  to  give  employment 
to  the  largest  number  of  working-people  unless  in 
Europe  State  Socialism  or  labor  control  provides 
work  for  all. 

The  democratic  tendencies  in  these  other  gov- 
ernments may  react  upon  our  own  in  such  a  fash- 
ion as  to  make  us  more  sympathetic  with  immi- 
grants who,  before  they  start  from  home,  are 
already  imbued  by  their  own  government  with 
democratic  ideas.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  with  the  democratizing  of  European 


AMERICANIZING  OF  IMMIGRANT     75 

governments,    emigration    from   those    countries 
will  not  naturally  be  checked. 

Frederic  C.  Howe,  Commissioner  of  Immigra- 
tion, believes  that  immigration  in  America  after 
the  war  will  center  around  the  idea  of  ownership 
of  land.  In  America  in  the  recent  past  immigrants 
have  settled  in  the  cities  because  they  cannot  do 
what  the  earlier  immigrants  did,  namely,  acquire 
cheap  land  in  the  West.  Two  hundred  million 
acres  of  American  land  are  now  held  by  250,000 
corporations.  America  to  bid  for  immigration 
must  offer  homesteads  as  Canada  has  done,  as 
England,  Russia,  Germany,  and  other  states  are 
in  process  of  doing.  Just  as  wide  ownership  of 
small  farms  in  France  has  been  one  of  the  ele- 
ments of  making  the  French  a  non-emigrative  peo- 
ple, the  breaking  up  of  the  great  estates  owned 
by  the  royal  families  or  nobility  of  European 
countries  will  encourage  those  classes  in  Europe 
to  stay  home  which  have  in  the  past  migrated. 

**In  my  opinion,''  declares  Mr.  Howe,  *  immi- 
gration to  the  United  States  will  be  profoundly  in- 
fluenced by  the  big  land  colonization  projects  of 
the  European  nations.  It  may  be  that  large  num- 
bers of  men  with  their  savings  will  be  lured  away 
from  the  United  States.''  Mr.  Howe  further  in- 
forms us  that  a  measure  is  before  Congress  look- 
ing for  some  similar  farm  colonization  scheme  for 
this  country  and  that  the  State  of  California  is 
undertaking  a  comprehensive  investigation  of  this 
subject. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT— THE 
FUNCTION  OF  THE  STATE 


"  To  me  health  is  more  important  than  all  imaginable  phi- 
losophy; and  were  it  not  that  Philosophy  teaches  the  recovery 
of  health  as  her  first  maxim,  she  would  not  avail  three  straws.  * 

Thomas  Cablyle, 
Letter  to  Jane  Welsh,  July  9,  1826,  p.  303,  Vol.  II. 

"  The  greatest  task  of  military  preparedness  is  to  put  the  men  in 
good  physical  condition." 

Db.  Tait  Mackenzie, 

Director-General  of  Physical  Training 

in  the  Armies  of  Great  Britain. 

"  It  may  be  seriously  asserted  that  a  chief  cause  for  the  remark- 
able achievements  of  Greek  education  was  that  it  was  never  mis- 
led by  false  notions  into  an  attempted  separation  of  mind  and 
body." 

John  Dewey, 
Democracy  and  Education,  p.  166. 


CHAPTER   V 

PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT— THE  FUNC- 
TION OF  THE  STATE 

THE  State  of  New  York  by  recent  legislation 
has  led  the  way  in  compulsory  physical  train- 
ing. It  has  taken  this  step  in  the  face  of  war, 
indeed  as  a  part  of  military  preparedness.  Eu- 
ropean precedents  for  compulsory  physical  train- 
ing, as  for  instance  in  Austria  and  France,  had 
a  similar  military  origin,  except  that  in  those 
countries  it  followed  defeat. 

At  any  rate,  America's  immediate  concern 
over  military  efficiency  will  doubtlessly  lead  other 
States  of  the  Union  to  take  care  of  the  physique 
of  its  youths. 

In  the  United  States  we  need  governmental 
supervision  of  physical  training.  The  call  for 
the  scientific  oversight  of  national  physique  is 
pressing.  The  task  is  too  large  for  private  or 
even  local  agencies.  Our  conditions  are  unique. 
We  must  improve  physique  under  unfavorable 
conditions — ^millions  of  foreigners  in  new  lands; 
millions  of  farm-born  folk  in  cities.  No  small 
part  of  our  problem— the  improvement  of  the 
American  physique — is  the  acclimatizing  of  immi- 

79 


80       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

grants  and  the  urbanizing  of  foreign  peasants  and 
of  native  farmers. 


Physical  Deterioration  Pronounced  Among 
Our  City  Poor 

Nothing  has  surprised  me  more,  in  thirty  years 
of  parish  work  in  a  manufacturing  town  and  in 
a  metropolis,  than  to  discover  the  wretched  phy- 
sique of  the  poor.  In  most  European  countries, 
height  and  weight  are  slightly  decreasing.  In 
England,  Tommy  Atkins  is  getting  smaller  and 
smaller;  before  the  war,  recruits  even  five  feet 
two  inches  tall,  with  a  chest  measure  of  thirty- 
three  and  one-half  inches,  were  hard  to  find. 
Now  as  to  size  there  are  no  restrictions. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  War,  at  least 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  our  militiamen,  as  I  was 
informed  by  the  Adjutant-General,  could  not 
meet  the  physical  requirements  of  the  United 
States  army.  Similar  failure  of  militiamen  to 
meet  the  physical  examination  of  army  surgeons 
was  disclosed  in  the  mobilization  of  troops  along 
the  Mexican  border.  In  the  first  draft  about 
thirty-three  per  cent,  were  rejected  for  physical 
unfitness. 

The  physical  standards  for  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  are  high,  nevertheless  the  de- 
ficiencies of  militiamen  might  have  been  foretold 
from  the  physique  of  school  children.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  city  of  New  York  physical  exam- 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  81 

ination  and  supervision  are  given  to  school 
children  by  the  Department  of  Health.  This 
expert  inspection  and  treatment  have  done  much 
good  and  cannot  be  too  highly-  praised.  But 
at  least  two- thirds  of  the  children  examined 
have  been  found  to  need  a  physician  *s  or  sur- 
geon's care,  while  of  the  backward  and  truant 
children  more  than  nine-tenths  are  defective. 

The  New  York  Globe  of  August  4, 1917,  had  the 
following  editorial: 

**An  examining  physician  for  one  of  the  local  exemp- 
tion boards  was  moved  to  remark  the  other  day  after 
looking  over  some  draft  registrants: 

*'  'These  men  are  round  shouldered,  flat  chested,  flat 
footed,  slab  sided,  and  suffer  from  hernia,  defective 
hearts,  and  a  dozen  other  chronic  maladies.  This  is  the 
sort  of  men  we  are  breeding  on  the  east  side.  The  coun- 
try need  not  be  surprised  or  aggrieved.  If  the  nation 
wishes  healthy,  upstanding  citizens  to  fight  its  battles, 
let  it  produce  such  citizens.  But  if  it  denies  children 
food,  air,  and  all  else  that  children  should  have,  it  may 
expect  just  such  a  harvest  as  this.* 

**  There  are  thousands  and  thousands  of  children  in 
the  city  to-day  who  are  growing  up  to  be  round  shoul- 
dered, flat  chested,  flat  footed,  slab  sided  men,  with 
weak  hearts  and  a  dozen  other  chronic  maladies.  It  is 
not  their  fault.  Opportunity  to  develop  into  strong, 
healthy  men  is  denied  them." 

*'The  New  York  Board  of  Health  estimates  that 
one  hundred  thousand  children  in  the  public 
schools  go  insufficiently  nourished. '^     (Quoted  by 


82       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

William  G.  Wilcox,  President  of  the  old  Board  of 
Education,  and  submitted  by  him  in  his  report  to 
the  new  Board  of  Education,  at  the  end  of  1917.) 

In  1910  Professor  Irving  Fisher  estimated  that 
there  were  twelve  millions  of  children  in  our 
schools  in  immediate  need  of  medical  and  sur- 
gical attention,  that  is  to  say,  three-fifths  of  our 
school  population.* 

He  further  tells  us  that  there  are  three  millions 
of  sick  people  in  the  United  States  all  the  time, 
so  that  **  There  is  no  other  measure  now  before 
the  public  which  equals  the  power  of  health  insur- 
ance for  social  regeneration. '  *  f 

In  Rochester,  New  York,  investigated  by  the 
Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Co.  of  New  York 
City,  it  was  shown  that  **only  50  per  cent,  of  the 
total  sick  outside  the  institutions  were  in  the  care 
of  physicians  and  only  45.3  per  cent,  of  those  sick 
were  able  to  work  and  were  being  cared  for. '  * 

A  study  in  Dutchess  County  made  by  the  State 
Charities  Aid  Society  found  *  *  that  even  among  the 
well-to-do  10  per  cent,  did  not  receive  adequate 
care;  among  the  middle  classes  those  that  could 
pay  for  service  for  a  certain  time  50  per  cent,  were 
not  adequately  cared  for,  and  among  the  poor  68 
per  cent,  received  inadequate  care.'' J 

*  Report  on  National  Vitality. 

t  Tenth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Association  of  Labor 
Legislation,  December,  1916. 

X  Dr.  Alexander  Lambert,  Chairman  Social  Insurance  Com- 
mittee, Medical  Association,  Tenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Labor  Legislation,  December,  1916. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  83 

**  Today  the  burden  of  sickness  and  its  results 
is  tremendous.  Could  it  be  visualized  it  would  be 
appalling. ' '  * 

The  Causes  of  Impaired  Physique  Among  Our 
City  Poor 

The  causes  of  physical  deterioration  among  the 
poor  of  the  cities  are  not  far  to  seek.  One  is 
overcrowding,  another  is  underfeeding. 

In  1790  only  3.14  per  cent,  of  the  population  of 
the  United  States  lived  in  cities  of  over  ten  thou- 
sand population ;  in  1910  the  percentage  of  urban 
population  was  46.3.  In  New  York  State  only  3 
per  cent,  are  agriculturists. 

**A  cow  does  not  need  so  much  land  as  my  eyes 
require  between  me  and  my  neighbor. ' '  Seventy- 
five  years  ago  Emerson  quoted  this  approvingly. 
What  a  contrast  to  *4ung  block'*  and  other  con- 
gested city  quarters  today,  with  their  700  to  1000 
souls  per  acre. 

A  farm  laborer  in  the  United  States  in  1900 
could  produce  five  times  as  much  as  in  1850. 
**The  introduction  of  machinery  has  increased 
the  productive  power  of  each  laborer  in  agricul- 
ture, so  that  fewer  persons  produce  more  prod- 
uct; and  the  consequence  has  been  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  population  has  changed  from 
agriculture  to  various  kinds  of  manufacture  and 
transportation.''! 

^  W.  C.  Archer,  Deputy  Commissioner,  in  charge  Workmen's 
Compensation,  New  York  State  Industrial  Commission,  December, 
1916.  t  United  States  Census,  1900. 


84      FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  city  has  come  to  stay.  We  cannot  correct 
city  congestion  by  spreading  its  population  in 
the  unsettled  lands  of  the  South  and  West,  upon 
our  nearer  and  abandoned  farms,  or  in  our 
suburbs.  The  city  is  an  economic  and  spiritual 
necessity.  Men  must  be  in  closest  association 
to  produce  wealth  with  the  least  possible  waste, 
and  also  for  that  personal  contact  which,  pa- 
tiently and  kindly  met,  develops,  as  nothing  else 
can,  mind,  heart,  and  will.  They  must  labor  to- 
gether for  economic  advantage  and  live  together 
for  spiritual  elaboration. 

The  increased  density  of  population  increases 
the  death-rate.     Dr.  Newsholme  declares :  * 

**The  higher  death-rates  which  are  usually  associated 
with  increased  density  of  population  are  not  the  direct 
results  of  the  latter.  The  crowding  of  people  together 
doubtless  leads  to  the  rest,  to  fouling  the  air  and  water 
and  soil,  and  to  the  increased  propagation  of  infectious 
diseases,  and  thus  affects  the  mortality.  But  more  im- 
portant than  these  are  the  indirect  consequences  of 
dense  aggregation  of  population,  such  as  increase  of 
poverty,  filth,  crime,  drunkenness,  and  other  vices,  and, 
perhaps  more  than  all,  the  less  healthy  character  of 
urban  industries.  Of  the  direct  influences  connected 
with  the  aggregation  of  population,  filthy  conditions 
of  air  and  water  and  soil  are  the  most  important.  Pov- 
erty of  the  inhabitants  of  densely  populated  districts, 
implying,  as  it  does,  inadequate  food  and  deficient 
clothes  and  shelter,  has  a  great  effect  on  swelling  their 
mortality. ' ' 

♦"Vital  Statistics,"  pp.  157,  159. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  85 

Where  there  is  a  high  death-rate  there  will  be 
deterioration  of  physique.  Many  are  attacked 
by  disease  who  do  not  succumb,  but  whose  vitality 
is  diminished  and  who  not  only  carry  through  life 
physical  weaknesses  or  blemishes  produced  by 
the  disease,  but  impart  impaired  vitality  to  their 
offspring. 

Class  and   Race   Acclimatization   Are   Potent 
Factors  in  City  Physical  Deterioration 

With  the  growth  of  industrialism,  cities  must 
expand.  In  the  country  farms  are  deserted;  in 
the  city  mushroom  apartment-houses  spring  up. 
A  majority  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  United 
States  will  soon  live  in  tenement-houses. 

Our  cities  are  not  only  filled  from  our  aban- 
doned farms  with  people  who  for  generations 
have  been  used  to  the  vigor  of  country  labor; 
our  cities  are  filled  with  aliens.  We  are  crowd- 
ing the  tenements  with  foreigners.  The  Ameri- 
can farmer's  boy,  removed  to  devitalized  city 
air,  is  trying  to  breathe  and  the  European 
peasant  in  America  is  trying  to  keep  his  health. 
Class  and  race  acclimatization  must  go  on  at 
once.  The  farmer  is  bent  upon  becoming  a  fac- 
tory or  mercantile  unit ;  the  foreigner  hastens  to 
become  an  American.  This  is  serious  business. 
If  you  know  any  mill  town  full  of  foreigners, 
you  have  mourned  over  the  deterioration  of  phy- 
sique in  the  second  generation.    American  food, 


86       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

hot  summers,  cold  winters,  stuffy  tenements,  play 
the  mischief  with  ruddy,  beefy  Englishmen  or 
Irishmen  or  whom  you  will.  I  have  been  repeat- 
edly shocked  to  find  among  cotton  operatives  girls 
of  sixteen  with  full  sets  of  false  teeth. 

Our  own  ancestors  had  to  fight  the  climate. 
The  children  of  the  colonists  made  hard  work  of 
survival.  Cotton  Mather  (and  he  was  of  the  in- 
telligent, comfortable  class  three  generations 
from  Plymouth  Rock)  had  some  fifteen  children, 
of  whom  only  four  survived  him.  After  three 
hundred  years  we  ought  to  know  how  to  assist 
acclimatization  and  how  to  escape  its  losses. 


Underfeeding  Is  a  Factor  in  Physical 
Deterioration 

In  England  ten  years  ago,  according  to  Sir 
John  Gorst,  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  population 
lived  below  the  margin  of  proper  nourishment. 
In  Edinburgh  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  school 
children  had  disorders  due  to  underfeeding.  A 
German  writer  before  the  war  could  throw  in  the 
face  of  England  the  fact  that  one-third  of  its 
population  lived  in  the  gutter.  Astounding  as  it 
may  seem,  war  itself  has  made  London  better  fed 
and  healthier. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  too  many  ill- 
nourished  school  children,  as  teachers  can  testify, 
who  find  that  empty  stomachs  make  drowsy  and 
dull   brains.     It   is   a   fallacy   due   to   political 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  87 

exigencies  to  suppose  the  American  working-man 
fares  sumptuously.  From  observation  in  the 
homes  of  working-men  I  believe  that  their  food 
is  meager  in  nutritive  value,  if  not  in  amount. 
**  Perverse  or  defective  nutrition  tends  to  retard 
growth  and  to  delay  the  characteristic  growth 
periods  and  also  final  size  attained  is  thus  re- 
duced/' * 

While  we  are  shocked  at  what  crowding  and 
poverty  can  do  to  destroy  physique,  we  are  hav- 
ing looming  illustrations  of  what  air  and  exer- 
cise can  do  to  improve  it.  Nature  is  struggling 
always  to  improve  her  children.  The  children 
of  mixed  racial  marriages  in  America  tend  to 
the  physique  of  the  larger  parent. 

**The  Anthropometric  Committee's  study  in  England 
found  that  boys  from  the  better  classes  at  ten  were  3.31 
inches  taller  and  10.64  pounds  heavier  than  industrial- 
school  boys  and  at  fourteen  were  6.65  inches  taller  and 
21.85  pounds  heavier.^'  f  At  Harvard  College  the  aver- 
age student  is  1.2  inches  taller  and  8.8  pounds  heavier 
than  the  stipend  scholarship  men  (poor  boys  who  re- 
ceive help  from  the  College  funds) .  t 

"The  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society  of  England  and 
the  English  professional  class,  who  may  be  said  to  rep- 
resent the  greatest  brain  power  of  the  British  Empire, 
average  respectively  5  feet  9J  inches,  5  feet  9^^  inches  in 

♦  "  Adolescence,"  Stanley  Hall,  Vol.  II,  p.  32. 
t  "  Adolescence,"  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 

X  Professor  D.  A.  Sargent,  Popular  Science  Monthly,  September, 
1900. 


88       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

height  and  160  pounds  weight,  while  lunatics,  criminals, 
and  imbeciles,  who  may  be  said  to  represent  the  other  end 
of  the  intellectual  scale,  if  they  are  not  classed  as  men- 
tally defective,  average  in  height  5  feet  7  inches,  5  feet 
4.87  inches ;  and  in  weight  from  147  to  123  pounds. ' '  • 

Physical  betterment,  which  is  the  effort  of  na- 
ture and  the  result  of  increasing  knowledge,  is 
retreating  today,  among  the  poor  of  great  cities, 
before  unusual  conditions.  A  change  from  a 
lower  to  a  higher  civilization,  from  an  agricul- 
tural and  handicraft  to  an  industrial  manner  of 
life,  for  the  time  being,  is  injurious  to  the  indi- 
vidual. Evidently  there  should  be  improvement 
in  health  accompanied  by  increase  in  strength 
and  longevity,  due  to  the  recent  enormous  enlight- 
enment from  science,  especially  in  those  depart- 
ments that  teach  sanitation  and  the  cure  of  dis- 
ease. But  with  the  coming  of  a  better  hygiene 
has  cropped  out  a  new  enemy  to  health,  the  over- 
crowding and  underfeeding  of  the  poor  in  great 
cities.  This  deterioration  should  be  temporary 
and  merely  a  matter  of  readjustment,  as  great 
populations  pass  from  an  agricultural  to  an  indus- 
trial manner  of  life.  Better  housing,  more  play- 
grounds and  parks,  more  leisure,  better  food,  hap- 
pier social  relations,  are  essential  to  the  physique 
of  city  dwellers.  But  while  these  are  com- 
ing something  can  be  done  by  direct  physical 
training. 

•Professor  D.  A.  Sargent,  Popular  Science  Monthly,  1907-8. 
"Physique  of  Scholars." 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  89 

A  Free  Summer  Camp  for  Public-School  Boys 

One  remedy  for  deterioration  of  tenement 
physique  is  evident.  Give  at  public  expense  to 
the  poor  the  physical  opportunities  and  some  of 
the  food  the  rich  secure  for  themselves.  A  sum- 
mer camp  for  boys  is  no  novelty.  Camps  for  the 
sons  of  the  rich  are  in  high  favor.  Started  about 
thirty  years  ago,  they  have  offered  such  rough 
out-of-door  living,  as  well  as  training  in  physical 
independence  to  hothouse  children,  that  they  are 
now  innumerable.  Why  cannot  the  summer  camp 
be  grafted  upon  our  public-school  system?  It 
could  be  approached  from  two  directions:  either 
from  the  philanthropic  fresh-air  work  which 
sends  thousands  of  children  every  summer  into 
the  country  for  a  week  or  so ;  or  from  the  side  of 
educational  tendencies. 

The  following  headlines  from  the  New  York 
Tribune  are  evidence  that  the  public  are  well  in- 
formed of  the  value  of  the  free  holidays  for 
mothers,  babies,  and  children  taken  out  of  the 
tenements : 

MAKING  FLESH  AND  BLOOD 

270  Fresh  Ani  Children  Gained  5241/2  Pounds 
IN  Two  Weeks 

Girls  Make  Best  Showing 

Youngsters  Come  of  Families  Averaging  Seven^ 
and  of  All  Nationalities 


90       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Ten  years  ago  I  pleaded  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  free  summer  camps  for  city  youth. 
By  the  law  of  1916,  the  State  of  New  York  has 
begun  to  provide  them.  The  State  proposes,  says 
Dr.  John  H.  Finley,  Commissioner  of  Education, 
'  ^  the  most  notable  constructive  program  of  health 
education  yet  undertaken  by  a  State.  In  prepar- 
ing the  plan  for  the  camp  there  were  three  primary 
purposes  in  view.  These  were  to  keep  the  boys 
mentally  or  physically  occupied  at  all  times,  to 
give  them  such  exercises  as  would  produce  a 
strong,  healthy  body,  and  to  give  them  such  mili- 
tary training  as  would  enable  them  to  perform 
intelligently  those  duties  which  a  soldier  might  be 
called  upon  to  perform. 

*^  There  are  in  the  State  about  250,000  boys  be- 
tween sixteen  and  nineteen  years  old.  Under  the 
Act  22,400  boys  were  enrolled  as  being  subject  to 
military  training;  the  remainder  were  exempt 
under  that  provision  excepting  those  who  were 
actually  engaged  in  *any  occupation  for  a  liveli- 
hood.' Out  of  these  22,400  boys  about  one-tenth 
applied  for  enlistment  in  the  camp,  and  1800  (the 
camp's  capacity)  were  accepted.'' 

Dr.  Finley  and  his  friends  are  to  be  applauded 
for  this  first  big  step  in  compulsory  physical  edu- 
cation. In  the  same  year  Massachusetts  enacted 
a  similar  law  and  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  and 
Louisiana  **took  notice."  Of  course  there  is  a 
big  discrepancy  between  a  quarter  of  a  million 
boys  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  nineteen  in 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  91 

the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  1800  actually  in 
the  first  summer  camp.  But  a  promising  begin- 
ning has  been  made. 

Now  let  us  enlarge  the  scope  of  these  State 
camps  until  we  make  them  industrial  as  well  as 
military,  and  extend  them  to  include  locations  by 
the  sea,  in  the  mountains,  and  in  farming  coun- 
try. Camps  on  the  ocean  or  large  lakes  could  be 
the  center  of  instruction  for  American  youth  in 
the  management  of  boats,  swimming,  etc.  Camps 
in  the  mountains  could  be  an  inspiration  for  for- 
estry, woodcraft,  lumbering,  etc.  Camps  in  farm- 
ing country,  in  study  of  soils,  care  of  domestic 
animals,  and  production  of  crops.  All  of  these 
things,  fundamental  to  future  civilization,  are  even 
today  an  essential  and  necessary  part  of  military 
preparedness. 

Compulsory  Physical  Training 

The  volunteer  work  in  behalf  of  physical  exer- 
cise among  New  York  school  children,  both  boys 
and  girls,  undertaken  by  the  city  of  New  York 
in  co-operation  with  the  directors  of  physical  cul- 
ture, has  been  admirable  both  in  the  number  of 
pupils  reached  and  in  the  variety  and  excellence 
of  the  athletic  work  achieved.  These  results  have 
been  largely  due  to  the  scientific  knowledge  and 
devotion  of  Dr.  C.  Ward  Crampton  and  to  the 
wide  knowledge  of  amateur  athletics  and  to  the 
extraordinary  energy  and  executive  ability  of 
Gustavus  T.  Kirby. 


92       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  class  system  of  the  Y.M.C.A/s  gymna- 
sium, the  setting-up  exercises  of  the  United 
States  army,  Swedish  gymnastics,  as  well  as  the 
new  regulations  for  physical  training  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  form  models  of  physical  exercise 
for  our  American  schools,  now  for  the  most  part 
given  to  futile  calisthenics  for  a  few  moments  a 
week,  with  the  object  more  of  correcting  circula- 
tion between  study  periods  and  possibly  of  cor- 
recting bad  desk  postures,  than  of  promoting 
general  improvement  in  physique  with  all  that 
it  implies. 

Nor  are  the  benefits  slow  in  appearing.  The 
extraordinary  change  after  three  months  in  the 
physique  of  naval  apprentices  in  the  Newport 
Training  Station  under  the  nourishing  and  wise 
supervision  of  naval  officers  is  amazing. 

Why  not  hold  out  to  these  school  children  who 
are  so  anxious  for  all  forms  of  physical  prowess 
the  possibility  of  even  greater  development  open 
to  all?  **I  firmly  believe,'*  H.  G.  Beyer  says, 
*  *  that  the  now  so  wonderful  performances  of  most 
of  our  strong  men  are  well  within  the  reach  of 
the  majority  of  men.''  * 

CoMPULSoBY  Physical  Training  in  Europe 

In  France,  Germany,  and  Austria  a  compulsory 
system  of  physical  training  is  in  force  in  all  edu- 
cational institutions,  both  civil  and  military,  and 

*  H.  G.  Beyer,  "  Adolescence,"  Vol.  I,  p.  197. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  93 

has  had  an  influence  upon  the  national  physical 
development.  The  soldier,  after  his  enrollment, 
continues  a  course  of  physical  training  with  which 
as  a  boy  and  youth  he  has  become  familiar,  and 
the  main  features  of  which  still  remain  the  es- 
sentials of  his  military  education.  Among  the 
schools  of  England,  no  special  gymnastic  train- 
ing is  officially  required.  The  taking  of  proper 
exercise  is  left  largely  to  the  individual,  much 
to  his  physical  disadvantage  when  compared 
with  the  corresponding  classes  in  the  countries 
just  named,  and  to  the  detriment  of  the  military 
service  of  which  he  may  ultimately  become  a  part. 

In  1873  the  French  Government  made  physical 
training  compulsory  in  all  schools,  and  since  that 
time  immense  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
development  of  the  French.  As  in  the  other 
Continental  armies,  swimming  is  taught  at  all 
stations  where  the  facilities  exist.  Some  of  the 
gymnastic  exercises  are  accompanied  by  music. 

In  Austria  the  highest  importance  is  attached 
to  the  physical  education  of  both  soldiers  and 
civilians,  it  being  compulsory. 

In  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and 
Switzerland,  physical  culture  is  looked  upon  as 
necessary  as,  and  also  as  being  an  aid  to,  the 
mental  and  military  education  of  the  individual. 


94      FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

An  Ameeican  Precedent  for  Compulsory  Phys- 
ical Training 

If  we  resent  or  fear  to  follow  foreign  example, 
our  impulse  need  not  come  from  abroad: 

**In  1790  President  Washington  transmitted  to  the 
First  Senate  of  the  United  States  an  elaborate  scheme 
prepared  by  General  Henry  Knox,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  for  the  military  training  of  all  men  over  eighteen 
and  under  sixty.  The  youth  of  eighteen,  nineteen,  and 
twenty  years  were  to  receive  their  military  education  in 
annual  camps  of  discipline  to  be  formed  in  each  State, 
and  a  military  prerequisition  was  proposed  as  a  right 
to  vote.  This  plan  failed  of  adoption,  as  did  also  the 
following  recommendation,  that  was  urged  in  the  na- 
tional House  of  Representatives  in  1817  and  1819, 
'that  a  corps  of  military  instructors  should  be  formed 
to  attend  to  the  gymnastic  and  elementary  part  of 
instruction  in  every  school  in  the  United  States. '  ' '  * 

Noah  Webster  seems  to  have  been  the  first 
American  of  note  to  propose  the  institution  of 
a  college  course  of  physical  training. 

The  Round  Hill  School  at  Northampton,  Massa- 
chusetts, under  George  Bancroft,  in  1823,  was 
**the  first  in  the  new  continent  to  connect  gym- 
nastics with  a  purely  literary  establishment. '' t 

The  Boston  gymnasium,  opened  in  the  Wash- 
ington Gardens,  October  3,  1826,  with  Dr.  Fol- 
len  as  its  principal  instructor,  seems  to  have  been 

♦United  States  Education  Report,  1897-98,  p.  553. 
t  Ihid.,  p.  554. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  95 

the  first  public  gymnasium  of  any  note  in 
America. 

Gymnastic  grounds  were  established  at  Yale 
in  1826,  and  at  Williams,  Amherst,  and  Brown  in 
1827. 

Between  1830  and  1860  no  general  revival  of 
interest  in  school  or  college  athletics  occurred; 
after  the  Civil  War  an  interest  in  athletics  was 
awakened  by  physicians  rather  than  by  soldiers. 

The  Economic  Advantage  of  Better  Physical 
Training 

When  a  national  system  of  compulsory  phys- 
ical education  is  advocated,  the  friends  of  such 
a  plan  will  be  asked  to  prove  that  it  has  economic 
value.  This  is  easily  shown.  Physical  better- 
ment is  already  recognized  as  a  financial  asset. 
If  we  may  reckon  the  wage-earners  as  a  third 
of  our  population,  and  suppose  them  to  earn 
two  dollars  a  day  for  three  hundred  days,  the 
value  to  the  country  of  extending  their  working 
careers  by  only  one  year  would  be  twenty  billion 
dollars.  The  actual  figures  are  probably  much 
higher.  Our  annual  bill  for  sickness  is  another 
billion — twice  what  we  spend  for  education. 

Physical  culture  for  military  service,  although 
undertaken  in  maturity,  is  of  so  large  advantage 
that  it  reacts  beneficially  upon  the  productive 
energies  of  society.  In  the  training  of  recruits 
it  is  found  that  *Hhe  greatest  of  all  changes  was 


96       FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

the  change  in  bodily  activity,  dexterity,  presence 
of  mind,  and  endurance  of  fatigue;  a  change  a 
hundredfold  more  impressive  than  any  other/' 

A  man's  economic  value  today  depends  with 
fresh  illustration  upon  his  physical  powers. 
Some  railway  corporations  will  not  tolerate  ciga- 
rette-smoking, and  some  New  York  banks  forbid 
the  use  of  alcohol  among  their  employees,  on  or 
off  duty.  The  tests  of  eyesight  for  color-blind- 
ness have  become  in  our  generation  a  require- 
ment of  great  services.  One  excuse  for  child- 
labor  is  the  early  decrepitude  of  parents  in  the 
laboring  classes.  Physical  betterment  would  pre- 
serve the  vigor  of  the  average  working-man  be- 
yond early  middle  life ;  would  free  him  from  need 
of  stimulants;  would  extend  the  period  during 
which  he  could  support  himself  and  educate  his 
family;  would  increase  the  ability  of  wage- 
earners  to  provide  for  old  age;  and  would  en- 
large the  wealth-producing  population. 

Moral  Advantages  op  Better  Physical  Training 

A  great  deal  of  work  that  we,  in  our  debilitated 
and  nervous  generation,  throw  upon  the  moral 
nature  of  man  ought  to  be  left  to  the  physical 
nature.  We  have  overburdened  the  moral  and 
have  asked  altogether  too  many  tasks  of  it ;  we  not 
only  expect  it  to  stand  the  stress  of  great  crises 
and  to  develop  higher  spiritual  traits,  but  also  to 
be  constantly  on  duty  to  drag  the  erring  indi- 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  97 

vidual  away  from  casual  lapses.  A  normal  body 
should  do  this. 

Physical  exercise,  it  is  well  known,  diminishes 
sexuality.  The  connection  between  morality  and 
athletics  is  recognized  in  the  leading  American 
universities. 

At  Elmira  Reformatory  the  introduction  of 
athletic  exercise  among  the  prisoners  produced 
astonishing  results,  not  only  in  the  physique,  but 
the  behavior  and  moral  attitude  of  the  men.*  To 
judge  from  photographs  of  incoming  prisoners 
(naked),  much  of  their  moral  delinquency  might 
have  been  due  to  their  physical  plight. 

Health  is  the  best  mentor;  a  sick,  devitalized 
man  is  restlessly  driven  to  all  sorts  of  substitutes 
for  strength — to  drink,  to  pleasure,  to  passion — 
in  fact,  to  any  excitement  that  momentarily 
stimulates  his  energies.  Health  has  no  need  of 
narcotics  and  will  hold  a  man  to  a  proper  and 
reasonable  manner  of  life.  To  ask  the  will  to 
keep  a  neurotic  out  of  mischief  is  to  postpone 
physical  improvement  and  hasten  a  final  catas- 
trophe. 

The  problem  of  crime  is  simplified  by  compul- 
sory physical  training.  *^Lack  of  exercise,  *'  said 
Miss  Agnes  M.  Hayes,  of  Public  School  No.  35, 
*4s  the  chief  cause  of  thieving.  If  the  boys  had 
more  playground,  more  air  and  sunshine,  they 
would  not  gamble,  and  it  is  gambling  that  leads 

*New  York  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira.  Seventeenth  Year- 
Book,  pages  P'  and  following. 


98       FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

to  stealing.  They  would  rather  play  football  than 
get  down  in  a  cramped  position  to  play  craps/* 
Summer  is  the  season  of  crime.  Law-breaking, 
like  a  noxious  plant,  flourishes  with  the  sun ;  even 
among  school  children,  unruliness  increases  with 
the  temperature.  There  are  twice  as  many  bad 
boys  as  usual  when  the  temperature  ranges  be- 
tween eighty  and  ninety,  and  three  times  as  many 
when  the  thermometer  soars  still  higher.  Crime, 
immorality,  and  suicide  hold  high  carnival  in 
June,  July,  and  August.  If  the  children  who 
swarm  the  tenement-houses  could  live  during  the 
summer  in  the  country,  under  a  splendid  physical 
regimen,  not  only  would  much  actual  law-break- 
ing be  prevented,  but  incipient  tendencies  toward 
crime  averted. 


Mental  Advantages  of  Improved  Physique 

Today  we  can  trace  physical  advantage  very 
far.      Professor    Mosso,    of    Turin    University, 


'*We  attain  in  training  a  maximum  of  intensity  and 
we  keep  ourselves,  not  for  an  instant  only,  at  the  cul- 
minant point  of  physical  force,  but  even  when  the 
muscles  have  returned  to  their  natural  size  after  long 
rest,  even  for  months  the  beneficent  effect  of  exercise 
remains.  ^ ' 

*  "  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Military  Hygiene,"  by  E.  L. 
Munson,  p.  400. 


PHYSICAL  BETTERMENT  99 

This  benefit  is  largely  in  the  storage  of  nervous 
strength.  Charles  Mercier,  the  English  alienist, 
points  out  that,  as  states  of  mind  are  but  the  ob- 
verse side,  the  shadows,  of  nervous  processes, 
whatever  has  effect  upon  the  nervous  processes 
has  effect  on  the  mental  states.  Memory,  for  in- 
stance, is  on  the  bodily  side  the  reviviscence  of 
a  physical  process  that  has  previously  been  ac- 
tive. The  physical  basis  of  memory  is  only  too 
apparent  to  most  of  us,  who  can  remember  bet- 
ter in  the  morning  than  in  the  evening,  better  be- 
fore eating  than  after,  better  after  exercise  than 
before. 

At  Sing  Sing  prison  it  has  been  recently  found 
by  Dr.  Bernard  Glueck  that  the  work  done  by  the 
prisoners  in  the  afternoon  is  of  a  better  grade 
than  the  work  done  in  the  morning.  This,  of 
course,  is  in  complete  contradiction  to  usual  in- 
dustrial experience.  Dr.  Glueck  discovered  the 
reason  to  be  the  deleterious  effects  of  the  nights 
spent  by  the  prisoners  in  their  cells. 

Physical  exercise  is  used  today  by  alienists  as 
a  means  of  mental  development.  A  few  muscular 
movements,  tried  over  and  over  again,  may 
constitute  the  first  steps  of  a  progressive 
education  and  the  starting-point  of  mental 
improvement. 

Mental  and  physical  power  are  normally  found 
together.  In  our  public  schools  *^The  children 
who  make  the  best  progress  in  their  studies  are 
on  the  average  larger  in  girth  of  chest  and  width 


100     FAIE  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

of  head  than  children  whose   progress   is  less 
satisfactory/** 

Physical  Training  as  a  Hygienic  Precaution 

Physical  buoyancy,  the  feeling  of  worth  and 
serviceableness,  goes  far  to  transform  life  from 
a  treadmill  into  a  delightful  opportunity.  The 
brain  is  directly  benefited  by  muscular  exercise 
and  cleared  of  humors  and  freakiness. 

Length  of  days,  that  biblical  blessing,  more 
likely  now  to  be  enjoyed  than  ever  before,  is  di- 
rectly fostered  by  physical  culture. 

**The  habit  of  breathing  properly  is  a  great  factor  in 
longevity  and  a  roomy  thorax  and  strong  heart  are  no 
mean  allies  in  resisting  invasion  by  disease.  When  the 
latter  has  actually  gained  a  foothold  a  few  additional 
cubic  inches  of  respiratory  capacity  or  a  small  reserve 
of  disciplined  cardiac  power  may  suffice  to  turn  the 
scales  in  pneumonia  or  typhoid  fever. ' '  f 

America  can  show  twice  as  many  physicians  to 
population  as  Great  Britain,  and  four  times  as 
many  as  Germany.  In  proportion  to  the  gen- 
eral population,  we  have  seventy  times  as  many 
doctors  as  physical  directors.  We  permit  this 
disparity  on  the  theory,  perhaps,  that  an  ounce 
of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure.    Preven- 

*  See  also  Professor  Dudley  A.  Sargent's  "  The  Physique  of 
Scholars,  Athletes,  and  the  Average  Student." 

t"The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Military  Hygiene,"  E.  L, 
Munson,  p.  38. 


PHYSICAL  BETTEilMENT  '        lOr 

tion  needs  more  numerical  representation.  Gov- 
ernmental supervision  of  health  and  compulsory- 
physical  training  will  be  important  factors  in  any 
program  after  the  war  for  greater  industrial 
efficiency  as  well  as  for  individual  and  domestic 
happiness. 


VI 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  LAW 
AND  THE  WORKER 


"Argument  with  hungry,  ignorant  and  excited  men  is  obvi- 
ously a  feeble  undertaking,  but  still  it  is  the  only  method  in  a 
free  country  like  this.  Certainly  the  clubs  and  the  police  will 
never  put  sound  ideas  into  people's  heads;  on  the  contrary  every 
blow  is  likely  to  make  a  convert  to  a  '  propaganda  of  deed.* 
Even  more  subtle  attacks  on  more  stable  ways  of  meeting  eco- 
nomic difficulties  had  better  not  be  suppressed." 

The  Nation,  March  28,  1908. 


CHAPTER   VI 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  LAW  AND 
THE  WORKER 

IN  the  past  we  have  too  largely  turned  over  in- 
dustrial disputes  in  the  United  States  to 
'*  strong-arm  * '  squads.  Instead  of  deciding  eco- 
nomic disputes,  as  we  do  political  and  legal 
differences,  by  parliamentary  or  by  judicial  ma- 
chinery, we  resorted  to  force.  Instead  of  refer- 
ring labor  controversies  to  boards  of  conciliation 
or  to  courts  of  arbitration,  we  rang  up  the  police, 
armed  bands  of  private  detectives,  swore  in  spe- 
cial deputy  sheriffs,  called  out  the  militia  and 
organized  ** vigilantes,''  who  proceeded  to  gag 
discussion,  to  arrest  labor-leaders,  to  intimidate 
strikers,  to  wound  and  to  kill.  Force  and  free 
speech  were  thus  arrayed.  The  worker — whether 
he  be  foreign  or  native  born — ^became  the  victim. 
Forcible  contacts  with  agents  of  the  law,  and  not 
with  the  higher  courts,  were  the  means  whereby 
he  learned  the  law  and  from  which  too  often 
arose  a  distrust  of  the  **  Government. " 

I  am  not  concerned  here  to  justify  the  so-called 
** disturbers  of  the  peace,"  nor  do  I  wish  to  de- 
nounce the  so-called  ** guardians  of  the  peace.'* 

105 


106     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

I  only  point  to  a  dangerous  gap  in  our  methods 
of  government,  a  region  of  nicest  judicial  require- 
ment. The  police  of  our  great  cities  are  a  body 
of  men  to  be  proud  of ;  physically  as  good  as  the 
London  police,  mentally  they  are  superior.  But 
they  are  being  diverted  from  their  sphere;  they 
are  being  intrusted  with  discretionary  powers 
that  demand  higher  military  and  higher  judicial 
qualities  than  they  can  be  expected  to  possess. 

The  Reign  of  the  Strong- Arm  Squad 

The  roll-call  of  notable  cases,  where  riot  sticks 
or  bullets  or  bayonets  were  used  instead  of  brains, 
now  includes  New  York,  Lawrence,  Kearny,  Perth 
Amboy,  Wakefield,  Cabin  Creek,  in  the  East ;  Spo- 
kane, Aberdeen,  Los  Angeles,  San  Diego,  Chicago, 
Calumet,  Ludlow,  Everett,  Bisbee,  in  the  West. 

In  Union  Square,  New  York,  in  the  winter  after 
the  panic  of  1907,  the  Socialists  having  been  de- 
nied the  right  to  hold  a  meeting  in  aid  of  the 
unemployed,  and  a  crowd  incredulous  of  such  a 
ruling  having  assembled,  the  situation  was  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  police.  The  crowd  was 
trampled  by  horses,  beaten,  pursued,  and  terror- 
ized, even  before  a  bomb  was  thrown  by  an  ir- 
responsible fellow  who  had  a  grudge  against  the 
police. 

In  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  a  complicated 
situation  which  involved  a  bankrupt  city  (whose 
former   mayor   had   been  jailed   for   public   of- 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       107 

fenses),  twenty- two  thousand  strikers  of  over 
twenty  non-English-speaking  races  and  suspi- 
cious of  the  employers  who  were  believed  to  con- 
trol the  municipal  government,  was  turned  over 
to  assistant  police  marshal  Sullivan  and  po- 
lice judge  Mahoney,  reinforced  by  a  regiment  of 
the  State  militia.  Many  arrests  were  made  and 
brutality  was  displayed  against  citizens,  two  of 
whom  were  killed.  The  strike-leaders  were  ar- 
rested as  accessories  or  were  indicted  for  com- 
plicity. Three  of  them — Ettor,  Giovannitti,  and 
Caruso — after  a  long  imprisonment,  were  ac- 
quitted in  a  trial  which  showed  clearly  the  flimsy 
character  of  the  charges  against  them.* 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  eloquence  of  Giovan- 
nitti and  the  fear  of  reprisals  at  the  hands  of 
enraged  working-men,  it  is  believed  by  working- 
people  that  the  three  prisoners  would  have  suf- 
fered the  death  penalty. 

In  San  Diego,  California,  a  demand  by  Social- 
ists for  free  speech  led  to  a  reign  of  terror  pro- 
jected by  police  and  *  Vigilantes. ' ' 

Colonel  Weinstock,  a  highly  experienced  ob- 
server of  social  conditions,  appointed  special 
commissioner  by  the  governor  of  California  to 
investigate  the  situation,  said  in  his  report: 

''The  sacred  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  guaranteed  under  the  Constitution,  were 
trampled  under  foot  by  men  who,  in  the  name  of  law 

*  "  The  Trial  of  a  New  Society,"  J.  Elbert,  1913. 


108     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

and  order,  proved  themselves  to  be  the  bitterest  ene- 
mies of  law  and  order. ' '  * 

Another  considerable  danger  from  our  use  of 
force  in  labor  troubles  is  due  to  the  amateurish- 
ness of  our  agents.  The  nervousness  of  inexpe- 
rienced police,  ** specials,"  detectives  who  fear 
for  their  own  skins  more  than  for  the  property 
they  are  defending,  impels  them  to  shoot  without 
sufficient  provocation.  Of  course,  the  result  of 
this  ill-timed  and  amateur  marksmanship  is  the 
death  of  many  innocent  persons  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  strike. 

The  proceedings  of  the  police  in  different  cities 
have  been  as  much  alike  as  their  uniforms.  They 
have  not  waited  for  actual  disorder,  but  they  have 
conjectured  from  a  song,  a  speech,  or  a  flag  that 
something  subversive  was  going  to  happen,  where- 
upon they  started  in  and  cleaned  up  the  place  with 
riot  sticks,  horses,  and  revolvers. 

To  sum  up:  The  police  have  duplicated  on 
American  soil  old  Russian  atrocities.  They  have 
broken  up  meetings,  if  the  theme  was  uncongenial 
or  unintelligible  to  them ;  upon  the  plea  that  such 
meetings  create  public  disturbance,  they  have 
** beaten  up"  would-be  organizers  of  labor  and 
have  denied  Socialist  speakers  and  I.  W.  W. 
speakers  the  right  of  free  speech;  they  have  ar- 
rested loiterers,  pickets,  and  leaders  in  time  of 
strikes  when  no  violence  had  been  committed. 

•Report  of  Commissioner  investigating  San  Diego,  Cal.,  dis- 
turbances, H.  Weinstock,  1912. 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       109 

In  detail,  they  have  played  the  fire  hose  on  pub- 
lic speakers,  women,  and  infants.  They  have 
poured  lead  into  defenseless  bodies  (in  San 
Diego  fourteen  bullets  were  found  in  one  pleader 
for  free  speech) ;  they  have  trampled  women 
with  horses  and  clubbed  children;  broken  up 
meetings  on  streets,  in  fields,  in  public  halls,  and 
private  buildings  as  if  they  were  Cossacks.  They 
have  arrested  peaceable  citizens  on  frivolous 
pretenses,  as,  for  instance,  street  speakers  and 
their  audiences,  loiterers  and  strike  pickets,  on 
charges  of  blocking  traffic  or  of  disorderly  con- 
duct, and  they  have  filled  the  penitentiaries  with 
them.  They  have  tried  to  break  strikes  by  im- 
prisoning the  leaders  on  serious  charges.  They 
have  confiscated  reputable  newspapers  carefully 
reporting  their  acts. 

Furthermore,  conservative  citizens  have  aided 
and  abetted  the  police  in  their  worst  violence. 
Unofficial  bands  have  snatched  prisoners,  whose 
only  crime  was  free  speech,  from  the  waiting 
hands  of  public  officials;  forced  them  to  run  the 
gantlet,  a  form  of  punishment  revived  from  the 
Stone  Age;  stripped  them  naked;  covered  them 
with  tar;  escorted  them  out  of  the  cities  and 
turned  them  over  to  the  mercies  of  the  desert. 

Police  and  Courts  Seem  to  Conspire  Together 

One  of  the  deep-rooted  grievances  of  honest 
working-people  is  that  during  strikes,  in  order  to 


110     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

clear  the  streets,  police  magistrates  will  accept 
the  unsubstantiated  testimony  of  the  police 
against  prisoners  who  have  been  arrested  upon 
charges  of  vagrancy  or  of  disorderly  conduct, 
etc.,  and  that  these  judges  ** railroad^'  trouble- 
some pickets  or  labor-leaders  to  jail.  In  this 
way  the  police  and  the  courts  act  together  and 
judicial  position  becomes  merely  accessory  force ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  does  not  perform  the  function 
of  sifting  evidence  and  securing  justice ;  it  is  only 
another  heavy  hand  pushing  the  working-man  or 
labor-leader  to  prison. 

The  number  of  working-men  fined  or  impris- 
oned on  these  counts  is  so  large  that  this  abuse 
alone  has  spread  among  them  a  personal  com- 
plaint against  our  courts.  I  was  astonished,  dur- 
ing a  meeting  of  self-respecting  working-people, 
at  the  large  number  of  hands  lifted  up  when 
some  one  asked  how  many  of  those  present, 
women  as  well  as  men,  had  ever  been  in  jail. 
**A  man  arrested  is  a  man  guilty,''  says  Carl 
Hovey,  **  according  to  a  regulation  and  perfectly 
sincere  police  feeling  everywhere."  Unjustifi- 
able arrest  is  a  very  terrible  thing  to  happen  to 
citizens  in  a  republic.  It  disfranchises  them 
mentally  and  creates  in  them  an  antagonism  to 
the  state  in  which  they  seem  to  have  no  rights. 

The  working-man  sees,  too,  in  this  extension  of 
police  jurisdiction  another  evidence  that  the  mas- 
ter class  is  adding  to  its  arbitrary  power.  The 
opposition   of   working-men   to   injunction   pro- 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       111 

ceedings  is  largely  fear  of  this  arbitrary  power. 
For  the  injunction  not  only  stops  intended  action, 
but  it  throws  further  proceedings  (contempt  pro- 
ceedings, so-called)  into  a  court  without  a  jury. 
Easy  riddance  of  troublesome  and  successful  of- 
ficers of  the  labor  army  in  a  time  of  strife  is  so 
congenial  to  the  employers  that  the  judges  are 
naturally  accused  of  collusion  with  them. 


Disregard  for  the  Legal  and  Civil  Rights  of 
Working-men 

Readers  of  conservative  New  York  newspapers 
cannot  understand  the  opposition  of  labor  unions 
to  a  State  constabulary.  If  they  could  hear  a 
description  of  the  behavior  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Constabulary  during  the  street-car  strike 
in  Philadelphia,  they  would  thoroughly  under- 
stand the  attitude  of  the  unions.  This  is  also  the 
attitude  of  the  United  States  Commission  on  In- 
dustrial Relations,  which  reports,  in  regard  to  the 
Pennsylvania  State  Constabulary: 

''The  legal  and  civil  rights  of  the  workers  have  on 
numerous  occasions  been  violated  by  the  constabulary; 
and  citizens  not  in  any  way  connected  with  the  dispute 
and  innocent  of  any  interference  with  the  constabulary 
have  been  brutally  treated,  and  in  one  case  shot  down 
by  members  of  the  constabulary,  who  have  escaped 
punishment  for  their  acts.  Organized  upon  a  strictly 
military  basis,  it  appears  to  assume  in  taking  the  field 
in  connection  with  a  strike  that  the  strikers  are  its  ene- 


112     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

mies  and  the  enemies  of  the  state,  and  that  a  campaign 
should  be  waged  against  them  as  such. ' '  * 

In  the  New  York  Globe  of  February  14,  1917, 
was  this  significant  editorial: 

**If  a  State  police  force  is  established,  it  should  be 
dedicated  to  the  square  deal — its  commanders  should 
be  as  much  alive  to  protecting  one  sort  of  rights  as  to 
protecting  another  sort.  Free  riot  is  bad,  but  quite  as 
bad  is  the  practice  of  denying  to  men  the  use  of  the 
highways  and  the  dispersal  of  lawful  meetings.  Think 
of  such  gross  illegality  as  has  occurred  in  Paterson  and 
in  Little  Falls  and  the  recent  deportations  from 
Everett,  Washington.  When  employers  get  behind  the 
law,  the  whole  of  the  law,  the  labor  unions  are  likely 
to  do  the  same.  As  long  as  one  element  is  allowed  to 
pick  and  choose  as  to  the  part  of  the  law  to  be  enforced, 
so  other  elements  are  likely  to  do  the  same." 

The  machine-gun  firing  from  the  moving  train 
into  the  tents  of  strikers  at  Cabin  Creek,  West 
Virginia;  the  kidnapping  and  maiming  of  labor 
leaders  at  Calumet,  Michigan;  the  bloody  volley 
of  the  militia  into  women  and  children  at  Ludlow, 
Colorado;  the  rain  of  bullets  shot  by  a  posse  of 
citizens  at  the  I.  W.  W.  passengers  on  a  steamer 
trying  to  land  at  Everett,  Washington ;  the  depor- 
tation of  twelve  hundred  miners  at  Bisbee,  Ari- 
zona, by  the  mine  owners  and  the  lynching  of 
Little,  a  crippled  labor  leader  at  Butte,  form  a 

*  United  States  Commisaion  on  Industrial  Relations,  Vol.  I, 
p.  98. 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       113 

crescendo  of  outrage  upon  the  civil  status  of 
working-men.  The  theory  of  the  employers  still 
seems  to  be  that  if  labor  leaders  can  be  killed 
or  silenced,  industrial  ** unrest*^  will  end. 

Who  Are  the  Greater  Criminals? 

Colonel  Weinstock's  question  in  his  report  to 
Governor  Johnson  is  being  very  generally  asked : 

"Who  are  the  greater  criminals;  who  are  the  real 
violators  of  the  Constitution;  who  are  the  real  'unde- 
sirables'— these  so-called  unfortunate  members  of  the 
'scum  of  the  earth'  or  these  presumably  respectable 
members  of  society" — viz.,  the  aiders  and  abetters  of 
police  and  judicial  outrages? 

The  Boston  newspapers  at  the  time  of  the 
Lawrence  strike  published  little  that  explained 
the  attitude  of  the  strikers,  nothing  that  upheld 
them.  An  educated  man  close  to  both  sides  of 
the  situation  sent  a  communication  to  the  liberal 
Boston  papers,  but  it  was  not  published. 

In  California  and  in  Michigan  the  labor  lead- 
ers accuse  the  press  of  suppressing  important 
news.  The  New  York  Call,  a  Socialist  newspaper, 
finds  one  of  the  chief  reasons  for  its  existence  in 
the  fact  that  it  **  regularly  publishes  news  not 
found  in  other  papers.'' 

Another  form  of  suppression  is  the  silence  of 
intellectual  leaders.  Great  intellectual  equip- 
ments capable  of  rational  solution  of  economic 


114     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

problems  are  not  heard  from  at  industrial  crises. 
Harvard  College,  only  twenty-five  miles  from 
Lawrence,  did  not  concern  itself  with  the  **  Law- 
rence strike'*  except  to  add  a  rifle  corps  to  the 
military  contingent. 

The  Commissioner  of  Labor,  in  his  report  to 
the  Senate  upon  the  Lawrence  strike,  presented 
July,  1912,  said: 

**The  average  rate  of  wages  for  21,922  textile  mill 
employees  was  sixteen  cents  per  hour.  Approximately 
one-fourth  (23.3  per  cent.)  of  the  total  number  earned 
less  than  twelve  cents  an  hour;  and  about  one-fifth 
(20.4  per  cent.)  earned  twenty  cents  and  over  per 
hour."* 

In  Los  Angeles  the  building  trades  early  in 
1910  went  out  on  a  strike  for  an  eight-hour  day. 
When  the  strike  had  been  in  progress  a  few 
weeks,  the  labor  men  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Mer- 
chants and  Manufacturers  Association  asking 
for  a  peace  conference.  No  reply  was  received, 
but  the  Los  Angeles  Tunes  announced  next 
morning  that  the  communication  had  been  con- 
signed to  the  waste-paper  basket.  A  calculated 
insult  began  the  trouble. 

One  explanation  of  this  stubbornness  among 
employers  is  that  when  the  older  men  studied  po- 
litical  economy  the   ^^ Manchester   School"    and 

*  strike  of  Textile  Workers  in  Lawrence,  Mass.,  1912. — Sen. 
Doc.  870;  62  Congress,  2  Sess. 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       115 

laissez  faire  were  dominant.  The  go-as-yon 
please  economic  theory,  added  to  the  JefPersonian 
political  principle  that  the  best  government  is  the 
one  that  governs  least,  has  shut  the  minds  of 
many  of  onr  successful  men  to  the  newer  eco- 
nomics so  largely  derived  from  social  values. 

In  their  attempt  to  destroy  trade-unions,  em- 
ployers of  labor  in  the  United  States  lag  behind 
the  industrial  experience  of  Europe.  Trade- 
unionism  has,  on  the  whole,  made  for  industrial 
peace  and  patriotic  service.  When  strikes  are 
threatened,  it  ought  to  be  simpler  for  employers 
to  explain  their  position  to  one  or  two  leaders 
than  to  thousands  of  employees.  It  is  certainly 
easier  in  time  of  strikes  to  deal  with  a  few  rep- 
resentatives of  labor  than  with  a  mob  of  work- 
men. The  contention  that  all  labor-leaders  are 
corrupt  is  not  conclusive  nor  can  it  be  substan- 
tiated. The  control  of  munitions  manufacture  in 
England  could  not  have  been  secured  by  the  gov- 
ernment had  it  not  been  for  the  trade-unions. 

The  Constitutional.  Right  to  Fkee  Speech 
Abkogated 

Attacks  by  the  police  upon  freedom  of  speech 
are,  of  course,  contrary  to  law.  Honorable  Wil- 
liam Dudley  Foulke,  when  an  advocate  of  an  un- 
popular doctrine  had  been  forbidden  to  speak  in 
Chicago,  wrote  to  the  Chicago  Record-Herald 
protesting.     He  said  that  any  one  abusing  the 


116     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

right  of  free  speech  could  be  punished  for  it  after 
the  offense,  but  that  to  forbid  a  man  in  advance 
to  speak,  on  the  assumption  that  he  is  going  to 
say  something  illegal,  was  a  clear  violation  of 
the  Constitution. 

**At  Dayton,  Ohio,  Socialist  speakers  were  acquitted 
by  a  judge  who  ruled  that  the  ordinance  under  which 
they  had  been  arrested  was  unconstitutional,  since  it 
seeks  to  make  a  chief  of  police  a  sole  guardian  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  to  use  public  streets  for  all  public 
purposes  except  the  right  of  public  travel/* 

The  several  States  of  the  Union  parted  with 
little  of  their  police  power  in  equipping  the  Fed- 
eral Government.  They  now  exercise  great  po- 
lice power  through  cities  to  which  they  give 
charters  and  through  the  sheriffs  of  counties. 

**It  is  a  well-established  principle  that  mu- 
nicipal police  ordinances,''  says  Ernst  Freund, 
in  his  authoritative  volume,  **The  Police 
Power,"  page  57,  *4ike  all  other  municipal 
ordinances,  must  be  reasonable  in  order  to  be 
lawful." 

The  question  then  is.  What  police  power  is  rea- 
sonable? Freund  lays  it  down  that  the  right  of 
criticism  of  existing  forms  of  government  is  prac- 
tically unlimited.  Consequently,  ordinances  for- 
bidding such  discussion  would  be  unreasonable 
and  so  unconstitutional. 

After  the  Union  Square  bomb  the  New  York 
Nation  said  (March  28,  1908) : 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       117 

**  Force  is  but  a  feeble  weapon  in  dealing  with  unrest 
and  agitation,  because  it  cannot  check  the  spread  of 
ideas.  The  police  may  disperse  a  mass  meeting,  but, 
after  all,  they  have  done  little  or  nothing.  The  abhor- 
rent doctrine  runs  like  a  plague  through  the  masses — 
passed  by  word  of  mouth,  by  circulars,  and  by  the 
revolutionary  press.  There  is  only  one  way  to  combat 
it  effectively  and  that  is  by  reason.  If  we  cannot 
marshal  arguments  to  destroy  the  fallacies  and  the  half- 
truths  upon  which  the  structure  of  socialistic  and 
anarchistic  theory  rests,  our  case  is,  indeed,  hopeless." 

Before  the  war  freedom  of  speech  was  being 
more  and  more  repressed,  less  ostensibly  in  the 
East  than  in  the  West,  by  police  interference  with 
public  meetings;  more  subtly  by  the  attitude  of 
the  conservative  press  with  its  increasing  power, 
by  laws  for  censorship,  and  by  the  actions  of 
monopoly  agencies. 

Courtenay  Lemon,  in  The  Social  War,  Febru- 
ary, 1917,  said: 

**The  methods  by  which  free  speech  is  curtailed  and 
abolished  fall  naturally  into  five  heads:  (1)  by  acts  of 
State  legislatures;  (2)  by  court  usurpations;  (3)  by 
police  outrages;  (4)  by  postal  legislation  and  post  office 
department  rulings;  (5)  by  the  activities  of  that  unique 
body — a  private  organization  with  public  powers — the 
New  York  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice. 

"In  the  State  of  Washington  to  say  anything  'tend- 
ing to  encourage  disrespect  for  law  or  for  any  court' 
is  a  crime.  It  would  follow  that  the  law  may  not  be 
brought  into  disrespect  even  for  the  sake  of  promoting 


118     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

its  repeal — the  new  blasphemy.  In  seven  States  we 
have  legislative  enactments  against  'blasphemy'  and 
thirty-six  States  have  prohibited  'profanity.'  In  sev- 
eral States  atheists,  infidels,  and  even  agnostics  are  ex- 
pressly prohibited  from  testifying,  by  which  every  ir- 
religious heretic  is  denied  one  of  his  most  elementary 
civil  rights.  Vermont  provides  that  'a  person  who 
defames  a  court  of  justice,  or  defames  the  magistrate, 
judge,  or  justice  of  said  court,  as  to  an  act  or  sentence 
therein  passed,  shall  be  fined. '  .    .    .  " 


Substitute  Brains  for  Bayonets 

If  the  exercise  of  the  police  power — that  is, 
whether  it  is  to  be  violent  or  reasonable — depends 
largely  upon  its  administration,  if  the  admin- 
istration of  the  police  power  depends  upon  social 
conditions  and  upon  public  opinion,  then  in  the 
last  resort  police  methods  are  an  expression  of 
the  public  state  of  mind. 

A  secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  said  not 
long  ago  before  a  Congressional  Committee: 

''The  conflict  (between  capital  and  labor)  is  irrepres- 
sible. If  the  Government  does  not  find  and  establish 
rules  by  which  the  development  may  be  intelligently 
and  normally  had,  then  ultimately  the  expansion  and 
the  progress  will  be  had  in  defiance  of  rules  that  do 
not  fit.  That  has  been  the  story  and  that  will  be  the 
story  of  development  everywhere." 

The  American  public  must  be  shown  simple,  ra- 
tional methods  to  put  in  the  place  of  our  present 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       119 

turbulent  methods  of  dealing  with  industrial  con- 
troversies. These  successful  rational  methods 
exist.  In  Australia,  in  Canada,  in  England,  in 
Germany,  and  in  America  there  are  govern- 
mental methods  that  have  lessened  the  number 
of  appeals  to  force.  There  are,  too,  unofficial  ex- 
periments that  have  been  encouraging. 

COMPULSOEY  AeBITRATION  LoGICAL 

Compulsory  arbitration  seems  logical  and  to 
stand  on  the  same  basis  as  our  courts  of  justice, 
which  are  compulsory  in  their  action;  but  com- 
pulsory arbitration  is  not  favored  by  working- 
men. 

In  compulsory  arbitration  Mr.  Gompers,  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  sees 
the  possibilities  of  a  new  judicial  tyranny.  In 
Australia,  in  Canada,  and  in  England  the  tend- 
ency is  from  arbitration  to  conciliation. 

In  Canada  the  Industrial  Disputes  Investiga- 
tion Act  of  1907  applying  to  all  public  utilities 
has  proved  very  helpful.  In  these  industries  it 
is  unlawful  to  strike  or  lock  out  until  a  Govern- 
ment investigation  of  causes  of  the  dispute  has 
taken  place.  It  abandons  arbitration,  relies  ex- 
clusively on  discussion,  conciliation,  publicity, 
and  public  opinion.  From  March  22,  1907,  to  Oc- 
tober 18,  1916,  212  disputes  were  referred  for 
adjustment  of  which  twenty-one  resulted  in 
strikes  that  were  not  averted  or  ended,  that  is  to 


120     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

say,  in  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  cases,  the  law's 
provisions  were  effective. 

In  the  United  States  the  Erdman  Act,  enacted 
in  June,  1898,  provided  for  mediation  proceedings 
of  a  purely  voluntary  character  between  rail- 
roads and  employees  directly  engaged  in  the 
movement  of  trains.  During  the  first  eight  and 
one-half  years  following  the  passage  of  the  law, 
only  one  attempt  was  made  to  utilize  it.  Within 
the  next  five  years,  however,  its  provisions 
were  evoked  sixty  times.  Forty  of  the  sixty-one 
cases  were  settled  without  recourse  to  strikes, 
— twenty-eight  through  mediation,  eight  by  me- 
diation and  arbitration  and  four  by  arbitration 
only. 

In  1913,  the  demand  of  conductors  and  train- 
men on  forty-two  Eastern  railroads  having  met 
with  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  latter  to  enter 
into  direct  negotiations,  the  Newlands  Law,  which 
had  been  pending  in  Congress,  was  rushed 
through  that  body.  In  general  it  re-enacted  the 
provisions  of  the  Erdman  Law  relative  to  media- 
tion, creating  in  addition  the  offices  of  Commis- 
sioner of  Mediation  and  Conciliation  and  a 
United  States  Board  of  Mediation  and  Concilia- 
tion. Under  this  Board,  fifty-six  controversies 
were  adjusted  between  July  15,  1913,  and  May  15, 
1916, — forty-five  by  mediation  and  eleven  by  me- 
diation and  arbitration. 

The  Adamson  ** Eight-Hour  Law''  of  1916, 
which  stayed  for  a  time  the  danger  of  a  tie-up 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       121 

on  all  the  railroads  of  the  country  and  which  has 
been  sustained  as  constitutional  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  was  not  called  into  existence  by  the  occa- 
sion which  brought  it  before  the  public.  Mr. 
Adamson,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Transportation,  and  his  committee  had  con- 
ferred for  years  with  the  parties  to  the  dispute, 
and  had  drafted  a  bill  which  they  were  only  wait- 
ing for  a  fitting  opportunity  to  present.  It  was 
not  an  emergency  bill,  but  the  result  of  a  score 
of  years  of  study  and  conference. 

In  New  York  at  the  time  of  **the  shirtwaist 
strike,**  Mr.  Louis  Brandeis  devised  a  preferen- 
tial union  scheme.* 

**The  preferential  union  shop  was  designed  to  meet 
the  impasse  arising  from  the  insistence  of  the  manu- 
facturers upon  an  open,  and  of  the  union  upon  a  closed, 
shop.  Under  this  arrangement  the  manufacturers 
bound  themselves  to  maintain  union  conditions  as  to 
hours,  wages,  etc.,  and  to  give  the  preference  to  union 
members  in  employing  and  retaining  workers.  On  their 
side  the  unions  bound  themselves  to  admit  on  reason- 
able terms  all  workers  who  should  apply  for  member- 
ship, to  enforce  the  discipline  of  the  shop  among  their 
members,  to  restrain  them  from  unauthorized  strikes, 
and  generally  to  see  that  they  lived  up  to  the  terms 
of  the  protocol. 

''During  the  year  ending  December  11,  1911,  this 
machinery  had  been  utilized  for  the  settlement  of  1,418 

*  See  U.  S.  Department  of  Labor,  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, 
whole  number  146. 


122     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

grievances,  of  which  1,283  were  brought  before  it  by 
the  unions  and  135  by  the  manufacturers." 

The  shirtwaist  protocol  was  effective  for  five 
or  six  years  in  preventing  serious  dissension  in 
the  industry  and  settled  through  its  committee 
thousands  of  complaints  without  recourse  to 
strike  or  lockout.  Owing  to  a  change  in  the  of- 
ficers and  a  new  policy  of  the  Employers*  Asso- 
ciation, and  consequent  grievances  on  the  part 
of  working-people,  there  occurred  a  long  and  bit- 
ter strike  and  lockout  in  the  Spring  of  1916.  This 
resulted  in  a  revised  agreement,  believed  in  some 
respects  to  be  better  than  the  protocol  as  a  means 
of  keeping  peace  in  the  industry. 

Great  Britain,  **the  nursery  of  peaceful  meth- 
ods of  adjusting  labor  difficulties,**  has  made 
great  strides  in  rationalizing  labor  disputes. 

'  *  The  most  important  factor,  however,  in  the  progress 
made  along  the  lines  of  conciliation  has  been  the  atti- 
tude of  the  British  labor  unions  themselves.  Article  3, 
Rule  1,  of  the  by-laws  of  the  General  Federation  of 
Trade  Unions  reads:  'It  is  the  purpose  of  the  General 
Federation  to  promote  industrial  peace,  and  by  all 
amicable  means,  such  as  conciliation,  mediation,  refer- 
ences, or  by  the  establishment  of  permanent  boards,  to 
prevent  strikes  or  lockouts  between  employers  and  work- 
men, or  disputes  between  trades  or  organizations.  Where 
differences  do  occur  to  assist  in  their  settlement  by  just 
and  equitable  methods.*  The  British  Federation  of 
Trade  Unions  has,  as  a  rule,  acted  up  to  the  very  spirit 
of  this  by-law.' ' 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       123 

Why  Court  Disaster? 

The  United  States  with  its  many  legislatures, 
its  regurgitation  of  the  doctrine  of  States'  rights 
as  attempted  in  California  and  Idaho,  cannot  ex- 
pect to  give  quick  relief  to  a  critical  situation. 
On  the  contrary,  we  in  America  have  more  dan- 
gerous conditions,  more  serious  infractions  of  in- 
dividual liberty,  and  at  the  same  time  more  po- 
litical rigidity.  What  can  we  expect,  then,  except 
disaster  unless  we  turn  our  backs  upon  a  further 
appeal  to  force  ar.d  apply  reason  to  our  indus- 
trial problem! 

I  find  industrial  engineers  affirming  that  much 
of  the  trouble  between  employers  and  their  work- 
men is  due  to  the  employers  not  knowing  their 
job.  Even  when  factories  or  workers  are  well 
organized  by  experts,  the  heads  of  the  corpora- 
tion often  ruin  the  whole  organization  and  spoil 
results.  If  the  employer  is  not  infallible  and  the 
employee  is  not  reliable,  they  must  either  develop 
a  new  co-operation  from  within  or  yield  to  a  su- 
preme power  from  without. 

Under  the  commissionership  of  Arthur  Woods 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  new  relationship  be- 
tween the  police  and  citizens  was  cultivated;  one 
full  of  significance  both  for  the  better  under- 
standing of  the  function  of  the  police  and  for 
sympathetic  and  intelligent  treatment  of  dis- 
turbances of  public  order. 


124    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Not  only  were  the  police  instructed  to  handle 
crowds  with  patience  and  with  intelligent  percep- 
tion of  the  rights  of  citizens,  as  to  street-speaking, 
et  cetera;  but  the  police  actually  tried  to  make 
friends  of  the  boys  in  the  congested  districts  who 
have  always  had  too  many  reasons  to  regard  the 
police  as  their  natural  enemies.  The  Junior  Po- 
lice League  numbered  some  4000  uniformed  lads. 
These  exchanged  an  ideal  of  depredation  for  one 
of  civic  service — the  hero  gunman  for  the  hero 
**cop.'' 

During  the  garment  makers'  strike  in  the 
spring  of  1916  and  the  car  strike  in  the  autumn, 
the  attitude  of  the  police  was  such  as  to  win  the 
approbation  of  the  strikers  themselves. 

While  the  labor  unions  and  the  representatives 
of  the  working-men  in  general  are  firmly  set 
against  compulsory  arbitration,  yet  some  method 
of  enforcing  a  judicial  settlement  of  strikes  may 
appear  from  a  quarter  different  from  that  in 
which  it  has  been  looked  for.  The  Adamson 
Eight-Hour  Law  and  its  discussion  in  committee 
point  to  a  view  clearly  held  by  Congress  that  it 
may  exercise  nation-wide  power  over  labor  dis- 
putes. Besides  boards  of  arbitration  and  con- 
ciliation, with  State  or  Federal  power,  Congress 
itself,  as  representing  all  three  factors  of  labor 
disputes — capital,  labor,  and  the  public — seems 
likely  in  the  future  to  exert  an  influence  amount- 
ing to  compulsory  arbitration  at  what  might  be 
called  its  source. 


THE  LAW  AND  THE  WORKER       125 

The  attitude  of  attention  and  of  co-operation 
displayed  by  President  Wilson  toward  labor  ques- 
tions is  keeping  them  within  the  protection  of 
government  concern  and  remedy,  where  they  be- 
long, and  where  alone  they  can  safely  be  answered. 


VII 

UNJUST  LAWS  AND  HOW  TO 
REMEDY  THEM 


"  I  fear  that  the  many  outrages  of  labor  organizations,  or  of 
some  of  their  members,  have  not  only  excited  just  indignation, 
but  at  times  have  frightened  courts  into  plain  legal  inconsis- 
tencies, and  into  the  enunciation  of  doctrines  which,  if  asserted 
in  litigations  arising  under  any  other  subject  than  labor  legis- 
lation, would  meet  scant  courtesy  or  consideration." 

Chief  Justice  Cullen  of  New  Yobk, 
Attitude  of  Courts  in  Labor  Cases, 
George  G.  Groat,  p.  32. 

"  The  true  grounds  of  decision  are  consideration  of  policy  and 
of  social  advantage,  and  it  is  vain  to  suppose  that  solutions  can 
be  attained  merely  by  logic  and  general  propositions  of  law 
which  nobody  disputes.  Propositions  as  to  public  policy  rarely 
are  unanimously  accepted  and  still  more  rarely  if  ever  are 
capable  of  unanswerable  proof.  They  require  a  special  training 
to  enable  anyone  ever  to  form  an  intelligent  opinion  about 
them." 

Judge  Holmes, 
Attitude  of  Courts  in  Labor  Cases, 
George  G.  Groat,  p.  32. 

"Justice  is  essential  to  a  program  of  self-preservation.  The 
only  way  that  America  can  protect  itself,  that  the  rich  and  the 
poor  can  protect  themselves,  is  by  doing  justice." 

Prof.  T.  N.  Carver, 
Essays  in  Social  Justice,  p.  32. 

"  Bentham's  Utilitarianism,  after  superseding  both  Natural 
Right  and  the  blind  tradition  of  the  lawyers,  and  serving  as 
the  basis  of  innumerable  legal  and  constitutional  reforms 
throughout  Europe,  was  killed  by  the  unanswerable  refusal  of 
the  plain  man  to  believe  that  ideas  of  pleasure  and  pain  are 
the  only  sources  of  human  motive." 

Graham  Wallas, 
Human  Nature  in  Politics,  p.  13. 


CHAPTER   VII 

UNJUST   LAWS   AND    HOW   TO   REMEDY 
THEM 

A  New  York  judge  who  halted  for  a  moment  in 
Broadway  recently  to  gaze  up  at  a  sky- 
scraper, was  prodded  by  a  policeman  and  told 
to  ^*Move  on.''  He  moved  on.  His  dumb  obedi- 
ence illustrated  the  attitude  toward  the  law  of 
the  average  American,  who,  while  he  may  fume 
or  grumble  or  prevaricate,  nevertheless  accepts 
a  law  pretty  much  as  if  it  came  from  Sinai. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  English  law-abidingness 
inborn  in  the  old-time  American,  hence  his  aston- 
ishment and  alarm  when  he  hears  his  laws  chal- 
lenged as  fundamentally  unjust. 

But  that  is  just  what  is  happening  today.  Our 
laws  are  disparaged,  even  scoffed  at,  by  large 
numbers  of  our  fellow-citizens. 

For  some  years  President  Samuel  Gompers, 
vice-president  John  Mitchell,  and  Mr.  Frank 
Morrison  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
one  of  the  largest  bodies  of  working-men  in  the 
country,  were  under  serious  charges  of  con- 
tempt of  court.  The  redoubtable  Mr.  Gompers 
is  reported  to  have  offered  as  his  solution  of  the 

129 


130     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

matter  the  impeachment  of  Judge  Wright. 
Shortly  before  we  entered  the  war  Mr.  Gompers 
publicly  declared  that  if  laws  were  passed  which 
forbade  working-men  to  strike,  they  would  not 
obey  the  laws, — **You  may  make  us  law-breakers, 
possibly,  but  you  are  not  going  to  make  us 
slaves. ' '  * 

The  Socialist  Party,  in  its  Chicago  platform, 
calmly  recommended  the  dissolution  of  the 
United  States  Senate  and  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

If  in  the  large,  as  represented  by  their  unions 
and  programs,  the  people  flout  the  law,  their  dis- 
respect is  even  more  apparent  when  they  speak 
for  themselves.  The  working-men's  label  for 
our  government  is  a  ** plutocracy,''  **an  oli- 
garchy," **a  government  by  injunction" — one  of 
tyranny,  not  of  law.  He  laughs  at  law  and  quotes 
you  the  kidnapping  of  Haywood,  Moyer,  and 
Pettibone  from  Colorado  into  Idaho,  and  its  subse- 
quent ^legalization"  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  found  it  could  not  inquire  into  the  circum- 
stances of  a  kidnapping  by  civil  officials.  Or  he 
echoes  Mr.  Gompers 's  seditious  regret,  **What 
we  should  have  done  then  was  to  have  pursued 
the  kidnappers." 

**  Disregard  for  law  is  fast  becoming  an  Ameri- 
can characteristic,"  is  the  finding  of  the  National 
Education  Association  in  a  report  on  a  system 
of  moral  instruction  for  the  public  schools. 

*  Before  the  Public  Service  Commission  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  New  York  Times,  February  8,  1917. 


UNJUST  LAWS  131 

President  Taft,  in  a  speech  at  the  Academy  of 
Political  Science,  in  New  York,  referred  to  the 
'*  lighter  regard  for  law  and  its  enforcement  in 
America  as  compared  with  England,  and  a  con- 
sequent less  rigorous  public  opinion  in  favor  of 
the  punishment  of  crime.'' 

President  Hadley,  of  Yale,  urges  as  a  cure  for 
our  present  low  standards  of  public  morality  a 
higher  reverence  for  law,  which  he  thinks  the 
country  sadly  lacks. 

A  growing  disrespect  toward  law  in  a  people 
noted  for  their  legalistic  attitude  toward  their 
problems  is  significant.  The  Revolutionary  War 
originated  in  legal  controversy.  The  long  corre- 
spondence between  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many before  we  entered  the  war  illustrated  our 
devotion  to  legal  considerations. 

An  ambassador  from  a  great  empire  told  me 
that  with  one  of  our  recent  presidents  he  could 
never  get  outside  a  legal  discussion  of  subjects. 

Americans  are  legal-minded,  yet  they  are  show- 
ing disrespect  for  the  law.  Under  such  circum- 
stances there  may  be  something  the  matter  with 
the  law  or  with  its  administration. 

This  light  regard  for  law  is  a  new  condition  of 
things  in  America,  especially  this  bitter,  working- 
class  feeling  against  the  law — unless  we  compare 
it  to  the  antagonism  evinced  by  the  abolitionists 
toward  the  slave-laws  in  the  years  before  the 
Civil  War.  The  working-people  today  in  Amer- 
ica are  not  behind  the  laws;  they  do  not  regard 


132     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

them  as  their  laws,  but  as  the  laws  of  ^^  hostile 
interests/'  It  follows  naturally  that  they  dis- 
trust their  law-makers  and  even  their  courts. 
That  was  the  meaning  of  their  demand  for  the 
initiative,  the  referendum,  and  the  recall  (even 
of  judges).  These  new  instruments,  they  hoped, 
would  rescue  their  lost  share  of  political  power; 
would  resurrect  democratic  government  and  re- 
instate justice. 

The  dissatisfaction  of  our  working-classes  with 
the  blind  goddess  must  not  be  confused  with  the 
mob  spirit  that  often  sweeps  away  *  *  our  best  citi- 
zens''  when  a  negro  is  concerned,  nor  with  the 
legal  play  of  *^the  criminal  rich.'*  It  is  not  the 
anarchist's  revolt  against  all  law,  or  the  well- 
understood  unpopularity  of  the  law  with  crimi- 
nals which  the  early  American  poet  Trumbull 
wittily  hit  off : 

''No  man  can  feel  the  halter  draw 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law." 

There  are  thousands  of  critics  of  our  laws  and 
courts  who  are  neither  masked  and  cowardly 
fiends,  nor  rich  law-breakers,  nor  anathematizers 
of  law,  nor  criminals;  but  progressive  citizens 
possessed  with  a  humane  passion  for  a  pro- 
founder  justice.  Even  the  dean  of  one  of  our 
leading  law  schools  before  a  body  of  lawyers, 
including  ex-President  Taft,  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  *Hhe  free  democratic  government  that 


UNJUST  LAWS  133 

prevailed  here  was  neither  free,  nor  democratic, 
nor  a  government.'' 


Laws  and  Courts  Against  Workers 

Working-men  are  convinced  that  both  laws  and 
courts  are  against  them.  They  are  astonishingly 
well  informed,  too,  as  any  one  who  hears  them 
talk  can  testify,  about  legislation  and  about  judi- 
cial decisions  that  affect  their  class.  They  are 
not,  in  the  commonly  accepted  phrase,  **  deceived 
by  agitators  and  demagogues,''  nor  are  they 
stirred  by  ** vague  unrest."  Their  complaints 
are  clear  and  specific.  The  laws  and  the  courts 
are  against  them,  but  are  for  their  employers. 

To  begin  with,  the  working-people  see  that 
proposed  legislation  in  their  favor  or  for  their 
protection  is  fought  by  wealth.  A  recent  New 
York  fire  commissioner's  order  for  more  fire 
escapes  upon  factories  was  fought  in  the  courts 
by  the  manufacturers.  The  law  requiring  owners 
of  tenement-houses  to  put  running  water  upon 
every  floor  of  the  tenement-houses  was  bit- 
terly opposed  as  unconstitutional  even  by  a 
great  religious  corporation.  The  present  Tene- 
ment-house Law  was  fought  in  rather  a  disorgan- 
ized way  by  the  vested  interests,  which  have  since 
organized  most  effectively.  The  efforts  of  or- 
ganized labor  to  secure  an  eight-hour  day  on  all 
public  works  was  also  bitterly  opposed.  The 
fight  waged  at  Albany  in  the  legislature,  against 


134     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

the  bill  limiting  the  working-hours  for  women 
and  children  to  fifty-four  hours  per  week,  and 
also  against  the  law  bringing  mercantile  estab- 
lishments more  fully  under  the  control  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor,  are  other  instances. 

Then,  again,  laws  beneficial  to  working-people 
are  passed,  but  are  not  enforced.  Referring  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  New  York  building-laws, 
the  Wainwright  Committee  on  Employers  and 
Liability  says: 

*  *  It  was  repeatedly  brought  out  in  the  testimony  pre- 
sented to  us  that  those  sections  of  the  labor-law  deal- 
ing with  scaffolds,  the  covering  of  floors,  the  fencing 
of  shafts  and  openings,  and  the  protection  of  workmen 
are  flagrantly  violated,  particularly  in  New  York 
City.'' 

The  laws,  it  is  further  claimed,  are  interpreted 
by  the  courts  in  a  fashion  hostile  to  labor.  The 
following  is  a  partial  list  of  important  decisions 
by  high  courts. 

**  Refusing  to  haul  cars  a  conspiracy.  T.  A.  &  N.  M. 
Ry.  vs.  Pa.  Co.,  54  Fed.  Rep.  730,  April  3,  1893.  Taft, 
Circuit  Judge." 

**  Quitting  work  is  criminal.  Same,  April  3,  1893. 
Taft,  Circuit  Court." 

''Arbitration  unconstitutional.  Supreme  Court  of 
U.  S.,  in  Adair  vs.  U.  S.,  decided  January  27,  1908,  208 
U.  S.  161." 

''A  strike  is  unlawful.  U.  S.  vs.  Cassidy  et  al.,  67 
Fed.  Rep.  698,  185." 


UNJUST  LAWS  135 

''A  workman  considered  'under  control.'  T.  A.  & 
N.  M.  Ry.  vs.  Pennsylvania  Co.  et  al.,  54  Fed.  Rep. 
746,  March  25,  1893.    Ricks,  Circuit  Judge.'' 

''Effort  to  unionize  shop  unlawful.  Lowe  et  al.  vs. 
Lawler  et  al.,  208  U.  S.  274,  February  3,  1908." 

"Unlawful  to  threaten  a  strike.  John  O'Brien  vs. 
People  ex.  rel.  Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply  Co.,  216 
111.   354,  June  25,  1905." 

"Unlawful  to  ask  reasons  for  discharge.  Wallace  vs. 
Georgia,  Carolina  &  Northern  Ry.  Co.,  94  Ga.  732,  June 
18,  1894." 

"Legal  to  jail  a  man  a  month  without  trial.  Oregon 
Supreme  Court.  Longshore  Printing  and  Publishing 
Co.,  Appt.,  vs.  George  H.  Howell  et  al.,  26  Ore.  527." 

"Constitutional  to  discharge  a  man  for  belonging  to 
a  union.  Wm.  Adair  vs.  United  States,  208  U.  S.  161, 
January  27,  1908." 

"No  remedy  for  labor  except  personal  suit.  Massa- 
chusetts Supreme  Judicial  Court.  Dianah  Worthing- 
ton  et  al.,  Appts.,  vs.  James  Waring  et  al.,  157 
Mass.  42L" 

The  Right  to  Strike  Curtailed  by  the  Courts 

' '  Every  argument  that  strengthens  the  conviction  that 
a  temporary  prohibition  of  any  sort  of  strike  is  per- 
mitted by  the  Constitution  is  a  stronger  reason  for  the 
opposition  of  labor.  The  reasons  lie,  furthermore,  deep- 
rooted  in  the  history  of  industrial  struggles.  Workmen 
have  not  been  free  very  long  to  make  demands  for  im- 
proved conditions  or  to  enforce  such  demands.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago  a  concerted  movement  for  higher  wages 
constituted  an  illegal  conspiracy  and  was  punishable  as 
such.    In  America  the  application  of  the  common  law  of 


136     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

conspiracy  to  the  activities  of  labor  unions  was  slowly 
weakened  by  the  decisions  of  courts.  In  England  the 
modification  was  accomplished  by  statute.  In  this  re- 
spect the  English  workers  are  better  off,  for,  depend- 
ent as  the  American  workers  are  upon  the  decisions 
of  the  courts,  they  are  controlled  by  liberal  and  reac- 
tionary decisions  alike.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  there 
is  developing  a  tendency  here  and  there  on  the  part  of 
the  courts  toward  a  more  illiberal  attitude  with  respect 
to  the  activity  of  unions.  A  man  was  freer  to  strike 
in  Massachusetts  fifty  years  ago  than  he  is  today,  and 
the  only  difference  is  in  the  attitude  of  the  courts.  In 
West  Virginia  a  few  years  ago  a  court  held  a  miners* 
union  to  be  an  illegal  conspiracy.  In  Arkansas  within 
a  year  a  court  has  held  that  a  union  in  striking  was 
illegally  interfering  with  interstate  commerce. ' '  * 

Another  complaint  continually  heard  among 
working-men  is  that  laws  passed  by  the  people's 
representatives  are  nullified  by  supreme  courts, 
and  that  the  courts  thereby  assume  legislative 
powers.  L.  B.  Boudin,  in  the  Political  Science 
Quarterly, f  puts  the  matter  clearly: 

**Each  case  is  supposed  to  stand  *on  its  own  merits,* 
which,  translated  into  ordinary  English,  simply  means 
that  each  law  is  declared  'constitutional'  or  'unconsti- 
tutional' according  to  the  opinion  the  judges  entertain 
as  to  its  wisdom.  Since  there  are  no  longer  any  set 
rules  by  which  the  judges  can  be  guided,  since  they  are 
left  to  determine  the  propriety  and  wisdom  of  laws  ac- 
cording to  the  canons  of  politics  and  statesmanship, 

*  The  Survey,  January  27,  1917,  p.  479. 
t  Volume  26,  pp.  238-70. 


UNJUST  LAWS  137 

they    naturally    exhibit   those    differences    of    opinion 
which  we  expect  to  find  in  legislative  bodies.** 

Another  fact  that  weakens  the  popular  confi- 
dence in  the  judiciary  is  that  our  highest  courts 
rarely  pronounce  a  unanimous  decision.  The 
** dissenting  opinion**  has  educated  the  American 
citizen.  He  does  not  forget  that  he  is  nominally 
governed  by  majorities,  but  he  has  come  to  be- 
lieve that  on  the  bench  the  opinion  of  the  major- 
ity need  not  necessarily  be  in  accordance  with 
justice.  Nor  ought  justice,  he  thinks,  in  a  court 
of  nine,  like  our  Supreme  Court,  to  depend  upon 
one  man. 

The  people  are  confused,  too,  by  the  conflict  of 
opinion  between  different  courts.  Let  me  cite  a 
case  prolific  of  amused  comment:  In  the  year 
1910  Basso,  a  bootblack,  in  the  basement  of  one 
of  the  business  blocks  of  Rochester,  refused  to 
serve  Burks  because  the  latter  was  a  negro.  The 
law  of  the  State  of  New  York  requires  full  and 
equal  accommodation  in  hotels  and  **  other  places 
of  public  accommodation.**  The  question,  there- 
fore, was:  Is  a  bootblack-stand  a  place  of  ** pub- 
lic accommodation'*?  The  first  court  said,  **no'*; 
the  second,  **yes**;  the  third,  **no**;  the  fourth, 
**yes,  but.** 

Immunity  op  Wealthy  Criminals 

The  immunity  of  wealthy  criminals  has  helped 
to  disillusion  the  man  of  the  dinner-pail.    The  as- 


138     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

sistance  given  by  the  legal  profession  to  ambi- 
tious and  desperate  men  in  securing,  through  our 
legislatures,  statutes  favorable  to  their  enter- 
prises, but  deadly  to  public  interest,  has  con- 
tributed to  destroy  the  people's  respect  for  the 
majesty  of  the  law.  They  discover,  let  us  say, 
through  *  investigations''  that  a  great  wrong  has 
been  done.  Millions  of  money  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for;  vast  expenditure  is  recorded  with- 
out adequate  showing  in  property  values;  what 
seems  a  gigantic  robbery  has  been  perpetrated  at 
the  expense  of  the  public;  yet,  to  the  amazement 
of  the  simple-minded,  the  officials  and  owners  of 
the  corporations,  who  are  well  known,  show  no 
signs  of  fear  and  eventually  go  unpunished. 

A  famous  district  attorney  explained  to  me  how 
this  happens.  He  took  some  matches  from  a 
match-stand  on  the  table  we  were  sitting  at,  and 
arranged  them  as  you  see  the  lines  in  this  dia- 
gram: 


He  said: 

*  *  Suppose  each  one  of  these  matches  to  be  a  law.  Sup- 
pose, then,  our  friend,  whom  everybody  believes  to  have 
committed  great  frauds,  is  undertaking  to  carry  out 
plans  that  these  laws  oppose.  He  approaches  one  of 
the  laws  and  finds  that  it  stands  firmly  in  his  way  like 


UNJUST  LAWS  139 

a  fence.  If  he  were  to  lay  his  hand  upon  that  law  or 
try  to  jump  over  it,  he  would  immediately  be  nabbed 
and  prosecuted,  probably  successfully.  But  he  doesn't 
so  much  as  lay  a  finger  on  the  law.  Under  the  guid- 
ance of  his  legal  adviser,  he  merely  passes  along  in 
front  of  it  until  he  finds  a  way  around.  He  thereupon 
proceeds  in  a  similar  fashion  to  find  a  gap  between  other 
laws,  through  which  he  just  as  freely  progresses. 
Very  likely  he  is  again  confronted  by  further  obstacles, 
but  he  merely  repeats  the  same  cautious  and  success- 
ful tactics.  He  does  not  interfere  with  the  law,  for  that 
would  render  him  liable,  but  he  gets  around  the  law. 
If,  finally,  he  runs  up  against  a  law  which,  as  far  as 
can  be  seen,  has  no  hole  in  it,  and  really  bars  his  way, 
he  has  only  to  secure  or  to  call  upon  powerful  political 
backing,  to  pass  a  bill  favorable  to  his  objects,  which 
his  legal  adviser  actually  draws  up,  and  so  he  proceeds 
— always  according  to  law.** 

A  Class  Contkol  of  Law 

The  working-people,  furthermore,  through 
their  most  'trusted  representatives,'*  who  to  our 
shame  it  has  to  be  admitted  are  labor-leaders, 
persistently  demur  at  the  class  spirit  in  which  the 
law  is  administered.  High  executive  officials, 
courts,  and  law  officers,  it  is  contended,  are  swept 
along  by  this  class  bias,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, into  grossly  illegal  action.  A  case  in 
point  was  the  arrest  of  McNamara. 

In  a  letter  addressed  by  Victor  L.  Berger  (the 
first  Socialist  Member  of  Congress)  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Rules  of  the  House  of  Repre3entatives, 


140     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

McNamara's  arrest,  leaving  out  of  consideration 
his  guilt  or  innocence,  was  declared  in  every  par- 
ticular to  be  illegal. 

~~* '  McNamara  was  not  a  fugitive  from  justice,  and  the 
Governor  of  Indiana  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  make 
sure  of  the  facts.  The  police  judge  had  no  proper  juris- 
diction, since  the  law  specifically  provides  that  the  ac- 
cused shall  be  brought  'before  the  Circuit,  Supreme,  or 
Criminal  Court/  The  police  and  private  detectives 
who  made  the  arrest  had  no  legal  right  to  do  so,  since 
the  law  provides  that  such  arrests  must  be  made  by  a 
sheriff  or  constable.  The  seizure  of  McNamara's  pri- 
vate papers  was  illegal.  The  Indiana  statutes  (Sec.  56, 
act  of  1905)  define  the  right  of  Search  and  Seizure. 
No  such  act  as  McNamara's  abduction  is  therein  per- 
mitted. Amendment  4  of  the  Federal  Constitution  was 
also  violated.*' 

The  fact  that  McNamara  was  proved  to  be 
guilty  does  not  justify  illegal  action  against  him 
either  by  the  police  or  by  the  courts. 

In  short,  the  working-man  contends  that  long 
after  the  destruction  of  monarchical  forms  of 
government,  class-control  still  goes  on  even  in  a 
democracy;  that  far  from  *^the  majority  govern- 
ing for  all,''  Mr.  Taft's  artless  assumption,  in 
reality  a  capitalist  minority  governs  for  itself 
alone.  This  skeptical  position  held  by  the  peo- 
ple is  fortified  by  the  recent  findings  of  econo- 
mists who  discover  that  aristocracies  or  power 
groups  have  an  inevitable  tendency  to  re-estab- 


UNJUST  LAWS  141 

lish  themselves  under  new  names,  even  in  repub- 
lics, and  that  everywhere  dominant  classes  make 
the  laws  in  their  own  interests. 


Justice  and  Right  Conflict  in  Practice 

Finally,  the  people  perceive  that  justice  and 
right  are  not  identical.  If  you  hear  no  other  com- 
plaint voiced  by  the  working-classes  against  their 
employers,  you  will  hear  the  accusation  of  hypoc- 
risy. They  do  not  practice  in  business,  it  is 
charged,  the  altruism  of  their  religious  faith,  but 
look  out  only  for  number  one,  protecting  them- 
selves behind  laws,  against  the  plain  promptings 
of  humanity. 

What  is  more,  the  people  do  not  understand 
justice  which  is  only  the  grist  of  legal  machinery. 
Merely  to  receive  the  benefit  of  the  law  is  not,  in 
their  opinion,  to  receive  justice,  which  might  well 
be,  to  their  way  of  thinking,  something  better 
than  the  conclusive  decision  of  the  court  of  last 
resort.  For  instance,  a  vice-chancellor  in  Jer- 
sey City  refused  to  consider  the  ** common  sense'' 
argument  urged  repeatedly  by  a  litigant,  and  re- 
plied, **I  never  knew  that  the  Court  of  Equity 
was  supposed  to  supply  sense  to  litigators.  All  it 
has  to  supply  is  justice.''  But,  somehow  or  other, 
** common  sense"  and  **a  square  deal"  are  popu- 
lar synonyms  for  justice,  and  describe  the  only 
kind  the  masses  believe  in. 

The  confusion  of  legal  and  moral  ideals  is  not 


142     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

strange,  nor  purely  the  result  of  ignorance.  Not 
only  is  ideal  right  what  the  unsophisticated  im- 
agine to  be  the  aim  of  the  law,  but  it  is  actually 
what  philosophers  have  depicted  as  justice  in  a 
true  republic,  and  what,  historically,  the  law  of 
the  Greeks,  more  nearly  than  Roman  or  English 
law,  strove  to  display. 

The  law  of  Moses,  too,  knew  no  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  justice;  there  was  only  one  law. 
Indeed,  we  may  have  the  Bible  largely  to  thank 
(or  shall  I  say  to  blame?)  for  the  persistent  con- 
fusion in  the  popular  mind  of  the  moral  and  the 
legal.  Simple  minds  in  England  and  America 
have  for  centuries  been  fed  upon  the  idea  out  of 
the  English  Bible  that  justice  should  be  the  same 
thing  as  right.  To  the  common  people,  for  in- 
stance, Solomon  is  not  only  the  most  splendid  of 
kings  and  wisest  of  men,  but  the  most  just  of 
judges ;  yet  how  candid  and  convincing  his  judg- 
ments! Ought  we  to  be  surprised  if,  after  gen- 
erations of  picturesque  Bible  teaching,  the  people 
seem  to  have  got  it  into  their  heads  that  justice 
should  be  identical  with  right? 

Law  Should  Accommodate  Itself  to  the  Right 

The  American  working-man,  then,  like  Henry 
James 's  American  princess  Maggie  Verver,  is  dis- 
concerted by  **the  discovery  that  it  doesn't  al- 
ways meet  all  contingencies  to  be  right.''  The 
something  more,  over  and  above  being  right  that  in 


UNJUST  LAWS  143 

the  case  of  the  working-man  has  to  be  considered, 
is  the  law ;  but  owing  to  his  straightforward  way 
of  looking  at  things,  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  that 
right,  in  his  opinion,  should  accommodate  itself 
to  law,  but  that  law,  as  a  matter  of  course,  should 
be  fitted  to  right. 

The  relation  of  justice  to  right  needs  much 
clearing  up,  more  than  has  been  given  it,  more, 
of  course,  than  I  have  room  for  here.  Even 
jurists  who  have  studied  the  fundamentals  of  the 
law  are  on  this  point  obscure.  One  school  finds 
the  origin  of  the  law  to  be  custom,  and  conse- 
quently the  judge,  as  **an  expert  upon  custom,'' 
dispenses  not  only  justice  but  also  right;  that  is, 
as  understood  by  his  contemporaries,  since  he  is 
their  spokesman.  The  other  school  finds  the 
origin  of  law  to  be  the  sovereign  power.  In 
their  view,  justice  and  right  meet  within  the 
definition  of  the  institutions  of  the  day.  In  a 
monarchy  governed  by  the  theory  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  justice  and  right  proceed  from 
the  imperial  will,  and  are  as  infallible,  theo- 
retically, as  that  which  proceeds  from  Deity.  In 
a  democracy  governed  by  the  theory  of  social  con- 
tract, justice  and  right  are  identical  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  citizen,  when  he  receives  legal 
justice,  gets  all  the  right  coming  to  him  under  his 
contract ;  in  fact,  all  the  right  his  contract  knows 
anything  about. 

But  the  educated  proletariat  is  asking  for 
more  than  that ;  it  demands  a  closer  compatibility 


144     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

between  justice  and  right,  and  would  be  perfectly 
willing  to  go  outside  the  breast  of  the  judge,  or 
the  will  of  the  sovereign,  or  the  contract  of  the 
citizen  to  find  it.  The  working-man,  perhaps, 
naively  expects  law  to  stand  for  that  which 
among  the  Athenians  the  Goddess  Themis  em- 
bodied— abstract  right  as  well  as  law  and  order. 
Possibly  we  can  find  the  relation  of  legal  justice 
to  moral  right  by  a  bit  more  of  analysis  and  a  his- 
torical glimpse.  If  law  deals  with  what  **is,'* 
and  morality  with  what  **  ought  to  be,*^  then  we 
can  easily  look  back  to  a  time  when  human  in- 
telligence was  so  undeveloped  that  its  customs 
or  laws  entirely  satisfied  it.  Usage  went  as  far 
as  conscience  saw,  because  a  very  simple  custom 
summed  up  their  social  and  psychological  expe- 
rience. What  was  and  what  ought  to  be  were  of 
necessity  one  and  the  same  thing,  because  the 
mentality  of  the  time  could  not  think  them  apart. 
With  increasing  intellectual  scope,  a  later  schism 
would  be  inevitable. 

Law  Should  Mobilize  Society  Creatively 

After  all,  what  the  working-man  wants  is  not 
abstract  right,  which  would  be  less  human  than 
old  custom  and  would  depend  upon  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  metaphysical  theories  that  estab- 
lished its  standards.  The  working-man  is  seek- 
ing a  positive  ground  for  law  in  racial  advantage 
as  revealed  by  modern  science.     In  short,  the 


UNJUST  LAWS  145 

working-man,  instead  of  always  looking  back- 
ward for  his  legal  authority,  proposes  to  look 
forward,  and  is  declaring  that  whatever  looms 
as  for  the  best  interests  of  mankind  must  be 
right  and  should  be  law.  The  object  of  the 
law,  as  he  sees  it,  is  not  merely  to  prevent  in- 
jury, but  to  create  all  sorts  of  new  and  higher 
values. 

And  why  cannot  the  present  without  arrogance 
claim  to  be  self-sufficient  in  knowledge  and  con- 
duct? The  tendency  to  explain  every  advance  in 
moral  position  by  reference  to  the  past  has  been 
commented  upon  by  Sir  Henry  Maine  as  **a  curi- 
osity of  human  nature."  Mankind  has  seemed 
ashamed  to  see  in  its  own  times  reasons  for,  as 
well  as  evidence  of,  advance.  But  we  have  now 
entered  upon  a  new  era  whose  characteristic  is 
that  it  will  honor  the  present.  Its  methods  will 
be  to  illuminate  an  old  science  by  the  new  sci- 
ences; it  will  let  light  into  law  by  opening  win- 
dows from  law  into  economics,  hygiene,  psychol- 
ogy, etc.,  etc.  **The  Rule  of  Reason,"  as  now 
applied  in  jurisprudence,  must  eventually  appeal 
to  arguments  discovered  in  the  broadest  prospec- 
tive advantages  to  mankind.  Charles  Ferguson 
says : 

''That  day  is  at  hand  in  which  it  would  be  possible 
for  a  lawyer  to  stand  up  in  court  and  say,  'I  admit 
that  I  am  not  in  line  with  the  precedents;  but  I  ask 
judgment  on  technical  grounds.  The  law  exists  to  mo- 
bilize the  creative  forces  of  society;  and  I  am  able  to 


146     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

show  that  the  case  of  my  client  is  in  line  with  the  sound 
rules  of  city  building. '  "  * 


Put  the  People  Behind  the  Law 

Nothing  can  be  more  threatening  to  a  democ- 
racy than  for  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people  to 
lack  respect  for  their  lawmakers  and  to  harbor 
suspicion  of  their  courts.  From  animadversions 
against  the  law,  the  step  is  an  easy  one  to  viola- 
tion of  the  law;  from  lack  of  confidence  in  legal 
methods,  the  way  is  not  a  long  one  to  their  over- 
throw. The  activities  of  our  courts,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  not  so  far  removed  from  popular  feel- 
ing that  dissatisfaction  among  the  masses  with 
the  attitude  of  the  bench  can  be  allowed  to  con- 
tinue with  no  fear  of  consequences.  Supreme 
Court  decisions  have,  in  the  past,  been  momen- 
tous, as  many  men  now  living  can  testify.  The 
Dred  Scott  decision  helped  to  bring  on  the  Civil 
War.  We  must  remember,  too,  that  we  cannot 
expect  the  people  to  reverence  law  in  the  abstract ; 
an  abstraction  cannot  long  retain  the  allegiance  of 
a  democracy.  They  will  respect  only  beneficent 
laws  and  good  law-makers. 

How  can  the  people  be  put  behind  the  law? 
What  remedy  can  we  apply  to  the  increasing  hos- 
tility between  classes  in  our  republic?  Let  us 
look  first  at  simple  and  partial  remedies. 

*  "  The  University  Militant,"  p.  31. 


UNJUST  LAWS  147 

Tell  the  People  About  the  Law 

The  people  could  be  put  behind  the  law  to  some 
extent  by  making  them  better  acquainted  with  the 
law.  This  would  be  a  method  for  which  we  have 
precedent  in  American  history.  The  colonists 
knew  their  Blackstone.  **The  Men  of  76''  waged 
the  Revolutionary  War  more  upon  legal  techni- 
calities than  because  of  actual  physical  griev- 
ances. The  orators  of  the  Revolution  could  boast 
that  every  patriot  was  an  embryo  lawyer.  After 
the  outcome  of  the  war,  it  was  again  the  wide- 
spread knowledge  of  English  law  that  made  pos- 
sible our  Constitution. 

Voices  are  continually  heard  today  in  people's 
assemblies  and  forums,  often  in  broken  English, 
expressing  respectfully  a  pathetic  desire  to  know 
more  about  the  legal  machinery  of  this  country. 
They  ask  how  laws  are  made ;  how  State  and  na- 
tional institutions  can  be  changed.  Lacking  this 
knowledge,  is  it  unnatural  that  ignorant  or  sus- 
picious or  aggrieved  working-men,  especially 
those  from  overseas  absolutism,  still  fancy  them- 
selves in  the  hands  of  tyrannical  forces? 

Why  could  not  evening  classes  in  the  law  be 
opened  for  working-people,  where  they  might  be- 
come widely  acquainted  with  the  subject-matter 
of  law,  and,  at  any  rate,  with  their  legal  rights? 
Besides  night  schools  for  adults,  law  could  also 
be  taught  in  the  high  schools — and,  perhaps,  in 
the  last  year  of  the  grammar  school.    Such  law- 


148     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

studies  in  the  public  schools  would  give,  too,  a 
dignified  and  intelligent  approach  to  citizenship. 

The  Twelve  Tables  were  used  by  the  Romans 
as  a  schoolbook  for  their  children.  If  the 
Americans  were  to  use  the  Constitution  even  as  a 
*^ reader,'*  its  nature,  at  least,  could  be  explained 
to  future  citizens  who  would  learn  that  the  Con- 
stitution is  not  a  hard  and  fast  contract  between 
the  States  and  the  Federal  Government — in  other 
words,  a  dead  document — but  that  such  an  agree- 
ment embodies,  of  necessity,  the  living  law  of  the 
land,  and  consequently  contains  within  itself  an 
organic  principle  of  growth  which  accounts  for 
the  constructive  interpretation  which,  to  the  eyes 
of  the  uninformed,  looks  like  constitutional  revi- 
sion at  the  hands  of  the  judiciary.  Every  child 
in  the  United  States  ought  to  be  taught  that  the 
Constitution  is  not  at  any  rate  a  boundary-stone, 
but  more  like  a  guide-post,  and  most  like  a  tree 
well-rooted  in  fertile  soil. 

Popularizing  the  study  of  law  would  do  some- 
thing to  correct  the  people 's  attitude,  for  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  law  ought  to  disclose  legal  means  out 
of  alleged  difficulties.  Two  prominent  Socialists 
of  my  acquaintance  were  greatly  surprised  **to 
be  shown'*  by  a  lawyer  friend  of  mine  how  many 
of  the  things  their  party  demanded  could  be  ob- 
tained under  existing  laws. 


UNJUST  LAWS  149 

Tell  the  People  About  Each  New  Law 

There  is  another  method  by  which  the  people 
could  be  rallied  behind  the  law.  Suppose  bills  of 
the  first  importance  in  Congress  and  in  State 
legislatures  had  public  hearing  before  great 
popular  audiences,  where  the  bills  could  be  ex- 
plained by  their  promoter  and  questions  might  be 
asked  and  answered.  Public  discussion  is  the  es- 
sence of  peaceful  progress  in  a  democracy,  but 
it  is  rarely  afforded  in  legislative  debate,  which 
is  too  often  only  a  demonstration  of  power  be- 
tween contending  forces,  with  as  little  honest  con- 
troversy as  is  shown  in  a  tug-of-war  contest — 
worse  still,  a  tug-of-war  when  an  anchor-man's 
palm  has  been  **  greased. '*  With  more  public  dis- 
cussion we  should  need  less  public  investigation. 
Honest  public  education  about  pending  measures 
would  have  a  tendency  to  prevent  special  legisla- 
tion hostile  to  public  interest,  and  would  develop 
among  the  people  sympathy  for  law-makers  and 
approval  of  their  work — the  agreeable  confidence 
that  the  laws  enacted  were  their  own  laws. 

In  the  State  of  Washington  printed  copies  of 
proposed  laws  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  citi- 
zens, which  gives  them  an  opportunity  to  study 
them  before  they  are  finally  voted  upon.  This,  at 
any  rate,  is  a  frank  invitation  for  co-operation 
and  is  far  different  from  the  practice  in  Eastern 
States,  where  citizens'  committees  have  to  keep 
agents  at  their  capitals  to  watch  for  *^ jokers" 


150     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

and  corrupt  legislation,  which  those  favorable  to 
such  undertakings  attempt  to  have  passed  while 
the  public  are  kept  in  the  dark. 


Eliminate  the  Jargon  of  the  Law 

Again,  why  cannot  laws  be  drafted  in  such 
clear  language  as  to  be  intelligible  to  anybody 
who  can  read  and  understand  English?  A  deal 
of  litigation  would  be  unnecessary  and  much  dis- 
trust of  the  law  avoided,  if  in  every  legislature 
there  were  an  official  sufficiently  a  master  of  the 
vernacular  to  frame  bills  whose  phraseology 
would  not  itself  be  a  source  of  misunderstanding. 
**Half  the  perplexities  of  men,''  says  the  Duke  of 
Argyll,  **are  traceable  to  obscurity  of  thought 
hiding  and  breeding  under  obscurity  of  lan- 
guage.'' Even  the  New  York  Times  is  irritated 
at  the  delays  and  misunderstandings  due  to  the 
obscurity  of  legal  language,  and  editorially  de- 
clared, **It  would  be  well  if  the  slang  and  jargon 
of  the  law  could  be  reduced  to  terms  of  our  com- 
mon speech." 

Broadeb  Education  for  Legislators  and 
Lawyers 

We  must  ask  our  legislators — so  many  of  whom 
are  lawyers — and  our  judges  as  well,  to  know 
something  more  than  the  law.  Laws  are  framed 
and  tribunals  determine  justice,  not  only  accord- 


UNJUST  LAWS  151 

ing  to  legal,  but  also  according  to  political,  so- 
cial, and  economic  principles.  The  judge  who  be- 
lieves, with  our  new  political  economists,  that 
poverty  can  be  abolished  will  hand  down  differ- 
ent legal  opinions  from  his  associate  who  still 
holds  that  poverty  is  God's  judgment  on  inca- 
pacity. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Association  for  Labor 
Legislation,  Professor  Ernst  Freund  declared 
that  in  his  opinion  a  systematic  study  of  indus- 
trial hygiene  would  revolutionize  the  attitude  of 
the  courts  toward  labor  legislation. 

But  hygiene  is  not  the  only  study  besides  law 
which  a  lawyer  ought  to  know.  Biology,  history, 
and  sociology  would  teach  him  that  all  material 
things  and  all  human  institutions  are  plastic  to 
evolutionary  forces ;  that  law  is  no  exception,  and 
must  still  further  change. 

If  the  people  believe  that  the  laws  and  the 
courts  are  against  them,  and  if  they  demand  a 
change,  then  one  of  the  first  things  to  be  done  is 
for  the  conservative  classes  to  get  used  to  the 
idea  that  change  is  not  necessarily  catastrophic. 

Thirty  years  ago  I  was  walking  across  the 
quadrangle  of  a  theological  seminary  with  the 
foremost  educator  in  America.  As  we  passed  the 
library  I  made  some  remark  about  the  oblivion 
that  quickly  envelops  most  religious  literature. 
**Yes,''  said  my  companion,  '^the  minister's  li- 
brary soon  loses  its  value,  but  so  does  the  doc- 
tor's.   Only  law  stands  unchanged."    Today  an 


152     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

authoritative  writer  upon  the  law  freely  admits 
to  me  that  the  fundamental  laws  of  property  are 
changing.  Yes,  even  the  laws  of  contract — that 
stronghold  of  conservatism — are  undermined. 

The  theological  library  and  the  law  library  may 
not  be  approaching  a  common  obsolescence,  but 
those  concerned  with  law  must  acknowledge  that 
unexpected  changes  in  their  science  are  under 
way.  But  change  does  not  spell  disaster.  Changes 
take  place  in  our  institutions  long  before  they  are 
named.  A  name  does  not  make  a  change  danger- 
ous. Lowell  was  a  good  constitutional  lawyer 
when  he  wrote: 

'*We  shape  our  courses  by  new  risen  stars, 
And  still  lip-loyal  to  what  once  was  truth 
Smuggle  new  meanings  under  ancient  names, 
Unconscious  perverts  of  the  Jesuit,  Time. 
Change  is  the  mask  that  all  continuance  wears 
To  keep  us  youngsters  harmlessly  amused.'* 

Out  of  the  midst  of  the  Supreme  Court  itself 
comes  testimony  to  the  change  our  laws  are  un- 
dergoing. Justice  Holmes  encouragingly  re- 
marks : 

'*that  it  is  unavoidable  that  judges  base  their  judg- 
ments upon  broad  considerations  of  policy,  to  which 
the  traditions  of  the  bench  would  hardly  have  toler- 
ated a  reference  fifty  years  ago.''* 

The  fight  for  the  confirmation  by  the  Senate  of 
the  President's  nomination  of  Mr.  Brandeis  for 

*  "  The  Common  Law,"  p.  78. 


UNJUST  LAWS  153 

the  Supreme  Court  was  the  people  ^s  fight  to 
put  into  the  Supreme  Court  a  proven  exponent 
of  the  living  law.  The  action  of  the  court  since 
then  has  justified  the  instinct  of  the  people.  The 
curbing  of  patent  monopolies;  the  extension  of 
the  anti-rebating  clauses  of  the  interstate  com- 
merce act;  the  women's  minimum  wage  and 
men's  hours  of  service  laws  of  many  States,  sus- 
tained by  the  decision  upholding  the  two  Oregon 
statutes ;  the  upholding  of  the  constitutionality  of 
the  Adamson  Eight-Hour  Law  by  one  vote, — all 
of  these  important  Supreme  Court  decisions  are 
significant  advantages  of  a  living,  rather  than  a 
literal,  interpretation  of  our  Constitution. 

Mr.  George  Gordon  Battle,  after  a  valuable  re- 
view of  notable  decisions  affecting  labor,  con- 
cludes that,  on  the  whole,  they  tend  to  become 
more  sympathetic,  and  are  disposed  to  take  into 
consideration  public  policy.*  This  applies  to  labor 
legislation,  not  to  strikes,  which  we  saw  were  at 
present  adversely  dealt  with. 

As  a  result,  perhaps,  of  war  alarms,  reaction 
against  labor  unions  has  appeared  in  judicial  de- 
cisions. President  Frank  J.  Hayes,  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  of  America,  at  the  biennial  conven- 
tion of  his  organization  at  Indianapolis,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1918,  referred  to  the  action  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  sustaining  the  injunction 

*  "  Address  before  the  People's  Forum,"  p.  16. 
See  also  George  Gorham  Groat,  "Attitude  of  American  Courts 
in  Labor  Cases."    Columbia  University,  1911. 


154     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

which  prohibits  his  organization  from  soliciting 
employees  of  a  coal  company  to  become  members 
of  the  organization,  and  said : 

*'In  this  crisis  the  Sherman  anti-trust  act,  and  other 
Federal  statutes  are  set  aside  to  permit  the  formation 
of  exporting  trusts  and  similar  pools,  some  as  if  by 
administrative  action  and  some  by  express  congressional 
laws.  It  seems,  however,  to  be  declared  an  open  season 
by  the  Federal  judiciary  for  hunting  labor  unions ;  and 
this  convention  should  not  adjourn  without  taking  some 
decisive  steps  for  laying  before  Congress  the  situation 
raised  by  these  decisions  and  of  securing  legislative 
assurance  against  their  repetition." 

WORKING-CLASS    CoNTROL    AS    UnJUST    AS    CAPITATi- 

CLASS  Control 

We  cannot  put  the  people  behind  the  law 
merely  by  taking  power  away  from  the  capital- 
istic class  and  by  giving  it  to  the  working-class. 
Our  problem  would  not  be  solved  by  transferring 
political  power  from  the  capitalistic  minority  to 
the  proletariat  majority.  Working-class  control 
would  only  swing  the  pendulum  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  give  us  working-class  justice,  just  as 
now  we  have  a  capitalistic  justice.  And  we  are 
well  enough  aware  that  one  control,  if  we  are 
talking  about  arbitrary  exercise  of  class  power, 
would  be  as  bad  as  another.  A  working-class 
control  would  be  as  unjust  as  a  capitalistic  con- 
trol, for  it,  too,  would  be  one-sided. 

The  working-class  outlook,  on  the  whole,  it  has 


UNJUST  LAWS  155 

unfortunately  to  be  noted,  is  not  broad,  and  some 
of  the  decisions  adverse  to  labor  we  are  obliged 
to  account  for  (and  this  is  admitted  by  labor 
men  themselves)  as  the  result  of  innnature  legis- 
lation undertaken  at  the  hasty  and  querulous  call 
of  labor.  Some  working-men  blame  their  own 
class  for  the  adverse  judicial  decisions,  and  even 
contend  that  most  of  the  labor  laws  declared  un- 
constitutional have  been  declared  so  justly.  The 
trouble  with  the  laws,  they  say,  is  not  so  much 
with  the  courts  as  with  labor  itself,  or  its  legal 
representatives ;  for  the  trouble  is  in  the  instincts 
of  the  working-class.  The  instincts  of  the  work- 
ing-class are  to  procure  some  sort  of  legislation 
that  will  protect  them,  and  that  will  injure,  some- 
how or  other,  the  corporations,  by  giving  small 
business  advantage  over  corporations.  Much  of 
the  legislation  in  the  interest  of  labor  has,  as  can 
be  seen,  discriminated  against  corporations  and 
also  in  favor  of  local  labor  as  against  race  and 
nationality.  Not  only  was  it  easier  for  the 
courts,  but  incumbent  upon  them,  to  declare  such 
legislation  unconstitutional.  The  fault  may  lie 
in  the  wrong  instincts  of  the  working-class,  or  in 
the  attempt  on  the  part  of  legislators  to  satisfy 
labor  by  passing  some  sort  of  legislation  in  its 
favor,  but  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  the  dec- 
laration of  its  illegality  certain. 

"W.  S.  Carter,  president  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Loco- 
motive Firemen  and  Enginemen,  spoke  from  the  heart 


156     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

recently  when  he  said  in  addressing  an  audience  of 
brotherhood  men :  *  Congressmen  have  long  since  learned 
that  to  oppose  the  designs  of  the  wealthy  men  of  the 
United  States  is  to  bring  upon  themselves  an  avalanche 
of  political  opposition  that  surpasses  in  its  intensity  and 
efficiency  even  Prussian  militarism.  When  members  of 
these  brotherhoods  can  readily  be  hired  by  the  funds  con- 
tributed to  a  political  campaign  by  these  same  wealthy 
men  to  defeat  for  election  congressmen  and  others  who 
fought  for  the  legislation  objectionable  to  wealth,  let  us 
not  be  too  quick  to  condemn  congressmen.  .  .  .  When 
working  people  are  politically  honest  and  have  sufficient 
political  intelligence  to  distinguish  friends  from  foes, 
much  of  which  they  now  bitterly  complain  will  dis- 
appear.' *'  * 


Naekow  the  Gulf  Between  Stability  and 
Progress 

If  capitalistic  control  of  legislation  is  intol- 
erable, and  if  working-class  control  would  be  no 
better,  must  we  not  look  for  a  mean  between  capi- 
talistic control  and  working-class  control;  that  is 
to  say,  for  relation  between  the  two  that  will  give 
to  neither  undue  power? 

"Descriptively  speaking,  the  ideal  basis  for  law, 
using  the  word  in  the  narrower  sense,  would  be  one 
which  would  result  in  obtaining  the  greatest  good  for 
the  greatest  number  by  securing  exact  justice  between 
man  and  man,  and  between  man  and  the  state.     This, 

*"Is  Labor  for  Labor?",  the  Evening  Call,  January  16,  1918. 


UNJUST  LAWS  157 

as  we   know,   was   the   generic  basis   of  the   common 
law."* 

The  complaint  of  the  people  today  is  not  only 
against  precedent  or  prejudice  ruling  in  place  of 
justice;  their  complaint  is  not  only  of  undemo- 
cratic influences  and  ignorance  vested  with  judicial 
authority.  They  complain  of  the  idea  current  of 
justice,  that  it  is  founded  upon  property  right, 
upon  sovereign  rights,  and  not  on  a  modern 
humane  estimate  of  man  and  his  needs  in  a  demo- 
cratic state. 

But  we  need  not  only  humane  contact  with  our 
social  and  economic  problems ;  we  need  also  intel- 
lectual contact.  A  democracy  should  never  forget 
the  warning  of  John  Stuart  Mill:  **The  future  of 
mankind  will  be  greatly  imperiled  if  great  ques- 
tions are  left  to  be  fought  out  between  ignorant 
change  and  ignorant  opposition  to  change." 

Sir  Henry  Maine  noted  the  conflict  between  law 
and  progress.  **Law,''  he  said,  **is  stable;  the 
societies  we  are  speaking  of  are  progressive. 
The  greater  or  less  happiness  of  a  people  de- 
pends on  the  degree  of  promptitude  with  which 
the  gulf  is  narrowed.'' 

*  Judge  Lindley  M.  Garrison,  "  Ideal  Basis  for  Law,"  p.  11. 


VIII 

ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING 
AMERCANIZATION  ? 


"...  private  munificence  moved  by  the  spirit  of  high  public 
duty  has  never  been  shown  on  a  finer  scale  than  by  American 
plutocracy  working  in  a  democratic  atmosphere.  Materialist, 
practical,  and  matter-of-fact  as  the  world  of  America  may  be 
judged,  or  may  perhaps  rightly  judge  itself,  everybody  recog- 
nizes that  commingled  with  all  that  is  a  strange  elasticity,  a 
pliancy,  an  intellectual  subtlety,  a  ready  excitability  of  response 
to  high  ideals,  that  older  worlds  do  not  surpass,  even  if  they 
can  be  said  to  have  equalled  it." 

Viscount  Morley's  Recollections, 
Vol.  II,  p.  109. 

"He  conceived  it  to  be  a  fundamentally  mistaken  policy  to 
use  the  surplus  good  of  each  generation  to  repair  the  wastage 
that  it  wrought.  ...  He  soon  perceived  that  it  was  in  the 
political  field  and  through  political  agencies  that  his  cause  must 
advance." 

Joseph  Fels'  Life, 
By  Mary  Fels,  p.  79. 


CHAPTER   Vni 

ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING 
AMERICANIZATION  ? 

AMERICA  must  deal  gently  with  its  rich  men; 
-^^^  they  are  a  natural  American  product  like  big 
trees,  tall  grain,  and  mammoth  vegetables.  Our 
virgin  soil  and  virgin  forests,  our  water  power, 
minerals,  coal  and  oil,  had  to  fall,  under  a  system 
of  private  ownership,  into  somebody  *s  hands.  The 
possessors  of  these  bounties  of  nature  are  our 
rich  men. 

Then,  too,  the  growth  of  cities,  under  our  fac- 
tory and  our  mercantile  system,  which  diverted  to 
city  life  hands  that  had  been  supplanted  on  the 
land  by  wonder-working  agricultural  machinery, 
increased  land  values  mechanically  and  enriched 
landowners. 

The  private  ownership  of  the  machinery  of 
production;  the  exploitation  of  new  mechanical 
powers ;  the  competition  of  machinery  with  human 
labor ;  the  bargaining  with  labor  on  an  individual 
and  commodity  basis,  again  produced  rich  men. 

But,  after  all,  the  rich  pay  a  heavy  price, — 
blindness,  hatred,  and  fear. 

An  inheritor  of  great  wealth,  under  the  obses- 

161 


162     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

sion  that  every  one  is  after  his  money,  makes  no 
close  friendships  but  from  youth  to  age  wanders 
over  the  world  in  his  yacht,  suspecting  every  one 
he  meets.  A  young  man  representing  enormous 
interests  responded  to  the  summons  of  the  Indus- 
trial Commission  expecting  fully  to  be  assassi- 
nated. An  American  banker,  a  companion  and 
benefactor  of  kings,  could  say  to  a  companion  at 
luncheon :  *  *  I  never  have  any  fun.  I  am  worried 
all  the  time ; ' '  and  again  to  a  friend  at  a  funeral 
in  a  New  York  church:  **I  wish  I  were  in  that 
coffin. ' ' 

How  THE  Rich  Can  Help 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  the  rich  can 
assist  the  adjustment  of  the  poor,  particularly  the 
foreign-born,  to  American  institutions  and  can 
co-operate  in  their  Americanization. 

1.  As  taxpayers  and  law-makers;  that  is,  as 
contributors  to  the  income  of  the  community  and 
as  designators  by  political  influence  of  the  way 
the  corporate  wealth  shall  be  expended. 

2.  As  benefactors;  that  is,  by  direct  gifts  of 
money  to  objects  and  institutions  which  they 
philanthropically  establish  and  develop. 

3.  By  representing  ideal  Americanism ;  that  is, 
by  their  personal  influence. 

Are  the  rich  Americans  then  aiding  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  poor  and  foreign-born  to  American 
institutions  in  these  ways — as  taxpayers  and  law- 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    163 

makers;  as  benefactors  and  philanthropists,  as 
model  Americans? 

The  wealth  of  America  in  July,  1917,  was  esti- 
mated as  $240,000,000,000.  Of  course,  the  figure 
is  changing  all  the  time  and  just  now  has  been 
increased  by  war  profits.  Our  wealth  is  possessed, 
for  the  most  part,  by  less  than  five  hundred  thou- 
sand persons,  if  we  take  the  number  that  paid  the 
federal  income  tax.  How  is  this  vast  wealth  used 
directly  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor?  What  is 
wealth  doing,  for  instance,  to  prevent  the  grossest 
evidences  of  maladjustment,  such  as  disease,  pov- 
erty, vice,  vagabondage,  crime? 

The  Fight  Against  Disease 

Wealth  is  not  helping  conscientiously  the  peo- 
ple's fight  against  disease.  The  mortality  tables 
depend  upon  the  tax  rates  and  these  are  fixed  to 
please  the  pockets  of  the  rich.  I  shall  not  forget 
my  astonishment  when  a  New  York  alderman  told 
me  that  the  amount  of  sickness  in  New  York  de- 
pended upon  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment. I  had  supposed  that  *^God  in  his  wise 
providence ' '  had  something  to  do  with  it.  No,  the 
life  and  death  of  the  poor  are  in  the  pocketbooks 
of  the  rich.  For  the  money  at  the  disposal  of  the 
city  government  depends  upon  the  amount  that  the 
taxpayers'  associations,  the  real  estate  interests, 
the  city  contractors,  the  public  utility  companies 
desire  the  city  to  expend.  Some  years  ago  a  street 


164     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

cleaning  commissioner  in  New  York  asked  for  an 
extra  appropriation — as  I  recall  it,  some  $86,000. 
He  did  not  get  it  until  he  had  made  the  city  under- 
stand that  the  piles  of  filth  on  the  East  Side  would 
not  **stay  puf  but  would  dry  and  blow  germs  of 
disease  into  all  parts  of  the  city. 

Remember,  too,  that  half  the  disease  and  death 
in  the  United  States  is  preventable  and  that  pre- 
vention is  purchasable. 

**That  a  well-to-do  class,  properly  fed  and 
clothed  and  with  opportunity  of  leisure,  will  be 
less  susceptible  to  disease  and  death  than  a 
poverty-stricken  class,  ill-fed  and  overworked,  has 
been  repeatedly  shown  by  statistics.^**  **Hard 
times  increase  the  death-rate.''  When  General 
Gorgas  was  asked  how  to  improve  health  condi- 
tions in  the  United  States  he  is  reported  to  have 
replied:  ** Raise  wages.''  Are  the  rich  inclined  to 
raise  taxes  or  wages  as  a  health  measure? 

As  for  American  poverty,  it  is  officially  stated 
that  fifty  per  cent,  is  due  to  sickness.  A  good  deal 
of  the  remainder  depends  upon  causes  like  de- 
ficiency in  industrial  education,  lack  of  employ- 
ment, lack  of  industrial  insurance  to  support  fami- 
lies in  times  of  sickness,  lack  of  old-age  insurance. 

Developing   and    Eliminating   the    Defections 

Below  the  ranks  of  the  poor  who  struggle  indus- 
trially with  varying  success  to  keep  their  heads 

•Report  on  National  Vitality,  pp.  22,  23. 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    165 

above  water,  are  the  paupers  who  have  become 
submerged.  *^Very  few  of  the  paupers  are  so 
solely  because  of  misfortune/^  says  Henry  H. 
Goddard,  in  his  great  book  on  ^^Feeble-Minded- 
ness/'  **  Investigations  of  our  almshouses  show 
that  a  considerable  proportion  of  inmates  are 
mentally  defective.  They  were  defective  children. 
Their  parents  and  grandparents  were  defective — 
some  of  them.  They  should  have  been  looked 
after  in  these  earlier  stages  of  the  problem.'' 
Society  should  have  protected  them.  Within 
three  years  a  New  York  judge  said  to  me: 
**  There  is  no  place  in  the  State  to  which  I  can 
send  a  defective  until  he  has  committed  a  crime." 

The  defectives  in  Dr.  Goddard 's  tables  are  in 
many  cases  suspiciously  connected  with  children's 
diseases  or  with  what  are  called  the  social  dis- 
eases,— again  matters  over  which  society  can  exer- 
cise control. 

Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow,  who  was  our  greatest  au- 
thority on  social  diseases,  said,  *^The  extermina- 
tion of  social  diseases  would  probably  mean  the 
elimination  of  at  least  one-half  of  the  institutions 
for  defectives.'*  American  wealth  is  not  fighting 
poverty  seriously. 

Vice  is  largely  associated  with  defective  phys- 
ical and  mental  conditions.  One  significant  record 
comes  from  Geneva,  Illinois,  made  by  Dr. 
Bridgman.  She  found  that  of  104  girls  in  that 
reformatory,  committed  for  an  immoral  life,  97 
per  cent,  were  feeble-minded.    **This  does  not  by 


166     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

any  means  indicate  that  97  per  cent,  of  prostitutes 
are  feeble-minded,  because  it  is  only  natural  to 
expect  that  the  feeble-minded  ones  would  be  the 
ones  to  be  caught  and  sent  to  institutions.  This 
figure,  nevertheless,  gives  some  idea  of  the  preva- 
lence of  the  feeble-minded  in  this  traffic. ' '  *  Fifty 
per  cent,  of  feeble-minded  is  authoritatively  said 
to  exist  among  women  of  the  street.f 

Vagrants 

Vagabondage  is  a  very  serious  maladjustment 
to  social  conditions;  it  seems  to  fly  in  the  face 
of  settled  social  life,  more  even  than  crime  and 
vice.  The  vagrant,  however,  is  often  an  honest 
working-man  who  has  left  home  to  better  himself 
and  has  never  successfully  established  economic 
connections  in  the  fields  of  his  ambition ;  too  proud 
to  return  home  a  failure  he  drifts  along  until  he 
finds  himself  a  tramp — a  hobo. 

Day  laborers,  too,  in  hard  times,  easily  fall  into 
the  ranks  below  them, — of  vagrants.  Striking 
workmen  are  often  arrested  and  sentenced  as 
vagrants  to  the  satisfaction  of  conservative 
interests. 

I  stood  at  the  application  window  of  the  Munici- 
pal Lodging  House  in  New  York  one  winter  night, 
as  the  homeless  applied  for  beds.  To  my  surprise 
the  majority  were  soldierly-looking  men  around 

*  Henry  H.  Goddard,  "  Feeble-Mindedness :  Its  Cause  and  Con- 
sequence," pp.  15,  17.  t  Supra. 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    167 

thirty-five  years  of  age.  There  seemed  to  be  many 
foreign-born,  to  judge  from  the  records,  who  had 
been  in  this  country  five  years,  but  who  had  never 
got  regular  employment,  never  ^^ caught  on,'' 
industrially. 

Laziness  is  now  scientifically  diagnosed  as  ab- 
normal and  a  sign  of  disease.  The  collapse  and 
dispersion  of  a  family  as  a  result  of  sickness  and 
unemployment  is  being  here  and  there  studied  and 
provided  against;  but  the  whole  problem  of 
vagrancy  should  have  Federal  supervision.  The 
problem  of  vagrancy  seems  particularly  suscep- 
tible of  great  improvement  at  the  hands  of  a 
national  system  of  labor  bureaus.* 

Crime  Preventable 

As  for  crime,  Dr.  Glueck,  the  psychiatrist  at 
Sing  Sing,  reports  that  87  per  cent,  of  the  men 
he  has  examined  since  August,  1916,  might  just 
as  properly  be  in  the  wards  of  hospitals  as  in  the 
cells  of  Sing  Sing ;  that  28  per  cent,  are  defective 
and  12  per  cent,  insane.f  Again,  a  condition 
that  better  social  organization  could  have  pre- 
vented. A  teacher  of  trades  to  prisoners  in 
one  of  our  city  prisons  told  me  that  if  trades 
were  taught  in  our  public  schools  by  which 
boys  could  earn  their  living,  there  would  be 
much  less  crime.    ^^But  vagrancy  and  crime  are, 

* "  British  System  Labor  Exchanges,"  U.  S.  Department  of 
Labor  Bulletin  No.  206. 

t  Dr.  Bernard  Glueck,  Mental  Hygiene,  January,  1918. 


168     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

to  a  surprising  extent,  due  to  lack  of  employ- 
ment.'' * 

In  other  words,  a  more  social  use  of  the  wealth 
of  the  community  would  change  every  figure  in 
this  list  of  pernicious  enemies  of  national  effi- 
ciency— disease,  poverty,  vice,  vagabondage,  and 
crime. 

Abe  Gifts  Made  in  the  Right  Direction? 

Are  rich  Americans  making  gifts  which  con- 
tribute rapidly  to  the  adjustment  of  the  poor! 
Are  their  benefactions  melting  down  inequalities 
and  peculiarities  brought  from  other  countries 
and  classes  ? 

There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  amount  Ameri- 
can millionaires  will  give  to  colleges,  medical 
schools,  technical  schools,  art  museums,  and 
libraries.  These  are  undoubtedly  great  instru- 
mentalities for  civilization  and  education;  but 
they  are  not  immediately  powerful  elements  of 
assimilation  for  the  rank  and  file  of  the  popula- 
tion— nine-tenths  of  whom  never  go  to  school  be- 
yond the  age  of  fourteen — and  have  little  time  for 
museums  and  libraries. 

The  sum-total  of  gifts,  over  a  thousand  dollars 
each,  contributed  in  America  in  1900  amounted  to 
$62,461,304.  In  1906  these  gifts  amounted  to 
$106,000,000;  in  1909  to  $186,000,000.    In  1916  the 

♦  Dr.  W.  D.  P.  Bliss,  "  Unemployment,"  U.  S.  Department  of 
Labor  and  N.  Y.  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor,  Report  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1916. 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING  I    169 

total  for  gifts  over  $50,000  each  was  $65,000,000. 
There  are  many  who  think  these  enormous  sums 
are  more  than  the  rich  should  be  expected  to  con- 
tribute for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  The  rich  men 
of  America  who  made  these  gifts  deserve  high 
praise.  But  we  should  notice  that  little  of  this 
money  finds  its  way  to  the  slums  of  great 
cities  to  fight  poverty  in  any  hand-to-hand 
fashion. 

After  all,  while  the  gifts  of  rich  Americans  to 
great  foundations  seem  in  a  lump  sum  to  be  large, 
the  amount  is  small  when  the  needs  of  one  hun- 
dred and  one  millions  of  people  are  considered. 
Even  in  our  greatest  cities,  where  there  are  the 
largest  benefactions,  the  hospital  equipment  for 
the  care  of  the  poor  is  entirely  inadequate.  Mean- 
while, it  is  found  by  a  careful  inquiry  by  the  medi- 
cal profession  that  the  working-classes  cannot  pay 
for  fifty  per  cent,  of  their  medical  attendance.  If 
in  such  concrete  and  well-understood  directions  as 
sickness  and  hospitals  the  gifts  of  the  rich  are  not 
meeting  the  requirements,  we  may  easily  surmise 
that  other  philanthropic  provisions  are  not  likely 
to  be  adequate. 

As  benefactors  the  rich  of  America  exert  prob- 
ably less  influence  upon  the  poor,  especially  in  the 
direction  of  Americanization,  than  has  been  sup- 
posed. While  in  England  Macgregor  computes 
that  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  advantages  received 
by  the  working-man  are  not  paid  for  by  his  wages, 
but  proceed  from  philanthropies,  government  in- 


170     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

stitutions,  etc.,  the  amount  in  America  must  be 
very  much  less  both  because  we  are  more  widely 
spread  out,  and  because  our  benevolent  institu- 
tions have  a  shorter  history.  Could  it  also  be 
because  the  English  philanthropy  is  figured  in 
larger  sums? 

A  New  York  multimillionaire  said  to  a  friend 
of  mine:  *^Do  you  know,  if  America  contributed 
to  the  Red  Cross  Fund  in  proportion  to  what 
Canada  has  contributed,  that  instead  of  a  hun- 
dred millions  we  should  have  given  a  billion  and 
a  half.  We  Americans  are  *  pikers'  in  the  matter 
of  giving. ' '  Then  he  added  significantly :  *  ^  I  am 
not  going  to  be  a  piker,  *'  and  proceeded  to  spend 
over  a  million  for  an  original  and  constructive 
public  service. 

Tyranny  of  Wealth  and  Its  Conservation 

Wealth  and  its  conservation  represents  on  the 
whole  old  age  and  its  fears.  In  the  nature  of  the 
case,  therefore,  wealth  cannot  assist  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  worker  because  it  is  the  coming  up 
of  the  worker  to  greater  power  that  it  dreads. 
Wealth's  fears  are  best  served  by  labor's 
weakness. 

There  is  a  psychological  ground  upon  which  we 
can  base  the  statement  that  wealth  will  not  assist 
poverty  to  the  extent  of  making  it  a  competi- 
tor or  until  it  becomes  independent  and  self- 
sufficient,  which  is  the  very  essence  of  Ameri- 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    171 

canization.  The  psychological  antagonism  of  the 
younger  generation  to  the  older,  which  is  a  fun- 
damental attitude,  out  of  which  flow  great  social 
consequences,  shows  itself  in  political  theories  and 
practice.  This  revolt  at  authority  of  the  father 
is  the  source  of  revolutionary  programs  in  states 
where  the  rulers  force  the  authoritative  attitude 
upon  the  people.  The  Czar  was  the  Little  Father 
and  his  subjects  were  his  children,  with  the  result 
that  Russia  was  a  breeding  place  of  anarchists, 
nihilism,  socialism,  and  all  manner  of  attack  upon 
his  ^^papaism.*'  But  the  attitude  of  czar,  kaiser, 
emperor,  of  aristocracies  or  junkerdom,  is  not 
confined  to  the  individual  or  classes  so  named; 
it  pertains  and  clings  to  groups  that  have  great 
stakes  to  lose  and  fear  their  weakness  as  being 
in  the  numerical  minority — groups  that  consume 
by  their  standards  of  life  incomes  that  could  give 
comfort,  education,  and  culture  to  thousands  of 
working-people  and  their  families. 

Rich  Americans  who  add  to  their  wealth  by 
monopoly,  by  privilege,  by  corruption — legislative, 
judicial,  and  police — represent  in  a  democracy  the 
authority  and  tyranny  of  the  old  world  which 
we  Americans  are  at  war  to  displace.  There 
are  probably  rich  men  in  America  as  much  dis- 
turbed by  our  citizens  as  the  Czar  was  by  his  sub- 
jects. Rich  Americans  under  this  view  retard  the 
constitutional  adjustment  of  the  immigrant  and 
of  the  working-classes  and  hasten  a  revolutionary 
adjustment.    America  cannot  cure  anarchism  by 


172    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

deportation;  for  it  is  not  entirely  an  over-seas 
product. 

Rich  Americans,  for  the  most  part,  have  no  con- 
ception that  their  country  has  problems  that  their 
money  won't  settle;  troubles  that  philanthropy, 
the  police,  and  Billy  Sunday  cannot  cure.  They 
will  give  millions  for  education  and  medicine  but 
not  a  cent  for  changing  the  rules  of  the  political 
and  business  game  or  for  new  social  and  economic 
ideas.  They  will  endow  universities,  not  for  the 
country's  good,  but  to  produce  more  successful 
men  like  themselves — more  money-makers.  The 
rich  seem  to  have  little  conception  of  the  organic 
problems  of  society;  the  economic  foundation  of 
the  government,  or  of  a  nation  which  is  a  brother- 
hood and  not  a  mere  Camarilla  for  the  distribu- 
tion of  privilege. 

Pebsonal  Influence  of  the  Rich  in  Cities 

Are  the  rich  by  their  personal  influence  assist- 
ing Americanization?  In  considering  the  rich 
American  and  his  influence  we  must  look  particu- 
larly in  cities,  for  that  is  the  place  which  permits 
largest  expenditure,  widest  contact  with  many 
sides  of  life,  and  where  the  rich  and  poor  rub 
elbows. 

Cities  have  been  called  ulcers.  They  swell 
and  fester  on  the  surface  of  human  population, 
which  is  only  healthy  in  its  sparser  distribu- 
tion.    They  are  full  of  filth,  poverty,  and  vice. 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    173 

They  breed  criminals.  They  graduate  thieves, 
murderers,  and  pimps  as  naturally  as  universi- 
ties graduate  scholars. 

This  is  not  the  worst.  Cities  not  only  produce 
vice  and  crime,  they  also  consume  virtue.  More 
horrible  than  a  disease,  they  appear  like  dia- 
bolical personalities  which  subsist  upon  the 
strength,  health,  virtue,  and  noble  aspiration  pro- 
duced in  the  country.  A  city  is  a  Moloch,  the 
fagots  of  its  fires  are  human  bodies  and  souls. 

A  great  city  like  New  York  furnishes  graphic 
examples  of  discontent  in  one  family,  composed  of 
factory  and  of  office  workers,  all  restless  over 
prodigal  display  of  wealth,  seen  close  at  hand. 
Such  a  family  group  shows  in  itself  the  ease  with 
which  the  feeling  of  the  fundamental  dissatisfac- 
tion at  the  distribution  of  attractive  things  may 
arise.  In  one  picture  it  displays  not  only  the 
social  desires  of  the  ** soft-handed''  city  worker, 
but  also  the  discontent  of  the  laborer, — made  all 
the  more  prominent  by  close  contact  with  the  lav- 
ishness  of  **Big  Business,''  and  of  moneyed  ease. 

Cities  Aee  Funebal  Pyres  for  Human  Bodies 
AND  Souls 

Cities  are,  therefore,  considered  abnormal,  es- 
pecially by  minds  keen  to  beauty,  and  by  hearts 
easily  wrung  at  the  sight  of  suffering.  The 
truth  is,  however,  that  a  city  is  the  school  of  the 
spirit.    Spirituality  grows  in  cities  by  means  of 


174     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

the  variety  and  complexity  of  human  relation- 
ships. 

If  the  city  is  a  school  of  the  spirit,  why  have 
the  great  cities  of  the  past  been  the  seats  of  a 
depravity  that  can  never  be  disassociated  from 
them?  Because  they  have  neither  seen  nor  have 
they  fulfilled  their  higher  intention.  Cities  have 
been  misunderstood  and  abused.  They  have  been 
treated  as  a  rich  field  of  plunder  for  the  few, 
rather  than  of  spiritual  relationships  for  the 
many.  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  predicts  a  future  popu- 
lation of  forty  million  for  the  city  of  New  York. 
Does  this  mean  despair  of  human  nature,  or  the 
souPs  best  chance  of  service  and  knowledge? 

Vice  Flourishes  While  Riches  Increase 

A  police  force  cannot  be  corrupt  without  the 
support  of  **big  interests,  ^^  which  are  benefited 
by  lenient  police  administration. 

Since  both  political  parties  in  our  larger  cities 
are  financially  supported  by  individuals  or  cor- 
porations that  expect  favors  or  that  fear  harm 
from  office-holders  or  from  legislation,  it  is  our 
rich  men  in  great  cities,  and  not  the  ignorant  vot- 
ers, who  are  responsible  for  bad  government.  We 
have  not  **as  good  a  government  as  we  deserve,'' 
but  we  have  as  good  a  government  as  money  can 
buy.  Now  the  more  we  pay  in  bribery  the  worse 
the  government  is.  The  higher  the  bribe  the  worse 
the  service.    A  government  manipulated  by  pri- 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    175 

vate  corporations  is  doomed.  It  becomes  a  battle- 
field for  giants,  who  shelter  themselves  behind  the 
patriotic  devices  of  great  parties  while  the  people 
perish. 

The  competition  of  business  and  of  profes- 
sional life  is  so  fierce,  and  the  prizes  for  success 
in  great  cities  so  fix  the  attention  of  the  hardest 
workers  and  most  competent  men,  that  generally 
these  have  no  time  for  politics.  The  unskilled  and 
less  equipped  men  enter  the  neglected  and  deserted 
field  and  cultivate  it.  The  politician  makes  money 
by  cultivating  the  opportunity  of  ofiice,  just  as 
the  business  man  makes  money  by  neglecting 
it.  Both  think  of  money  and  not  of  the  city.  The 
business  man  indeed  is,  in  a  way,  more  culpable. 
If  he  is  so  intent  upon  gain  that  he  will  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  institutions  favorable  for  his 
purposes,  but  will  lift  no  honest  finger  to  pro- 
tect them,  he  is  morally  lower  than  the  man  who 
at  least  keeps  these  institutions  running — even  if 
he  charges  a  heavy  salvage  for  thus  rescuing  the 
abandoned  ship  of  state. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  too,  that  the  hot  pur- 
suit of  wealth  is  a  baneful  example.  We  see  it 
politically  and  socially.  The  politician  is  ap- 
proached for  a  favor  which  has  a  money  value 
for  the  recipient.  Why  should  he  be  making 
other  men's  fortunes?  He  therefore  asks  the 
question  which  is  the  motto  of  all  corruption, 
**What  is  there  in  it  for  me?''  If  a  rich  man 
may  lie  about  his  taxable  property,  why  may  not 


176     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

a  politician  lie  if  it  is  worth  his  while?  At  any 
rate,  some  of  the  methods  of  the  rich  in  secur- 
ing and  protecting  their  property  are  openly  used 
as  excuses  for  these  corrupt  political  methods. 

The  ability  and  integrity  of  a  metropolis  are 
continually  being  drawn  upon  for  the  manage- 
ment of  great  enterprises.  The  reformer  or  the 
interested  citizen  finds  it  difficult  to  consider  the 
vested  interests  intrusted  to  him  and  at  the  same 
time  consider  the  city's  welfare.  He  soon  for- 
gets his  independence  and  becomes  dumb  to  the 
entreaties  of  friends  who  implore  his  assistance 
in  purifying  the  government.  Suppose  he  does 
take  part  in  such  movements.  The  clique  he  at- 
tacks immediately  attacks  his  corporation. 

Cabeless  and  Extravagant  Wealth  Forgets 
Social  Obligation 

The  careless  use  of  money  breeds  vice  and 
crime.  In  connection  with  a  hotel  robbery  in  New 
York,  the  manager  of  the  hotel  said  that  it  was 
very  difficult  to  find  honest  hotel  servants,  espe- 
cially waiters.  They  saw  so  much  money  squan- 
dered on  dress,  food,  and  drink  that  they  came 
to  regard  the  rich  as  fair  prey.  They  feel  to- 
wards the  rich  as  a  thief  feels  towards  a  drunkard 
asleep  in  a  doorway ;  why  leave  him  to  throw  away 
his  money  or  for  some  one  else  to  rob. 

The  records  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Commerce,  previous  to  the  European  War, 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING!    177 

show  importations  of  '*  precious  and  semi-pre- 
cious stones*^  amounting  annually  to  nearly 
fifty  million  dollars.  Even  in  1916  importation  of 
jewels  amounted  to  over  forty  millions. 

New  York  is  the  city  to  which,  as  to  a  Mecca, 
the  rich  from  all  over  the  country  come.  They 
have  put  money  in  their  purse,  and  they  are  in 
New  York  for  a  good  time.  Their  banners  read, 
**  Money  is  no  objecf  **The  best  is  none  too 
good.** 

A  friend  of  mine,  a  New  York  broker,  received 
a  message  from  important  men  in  another  city 
announcing  that  they  were  coming  to  Manhattan 
for  a  couple  of  weeks.  The  telegram  ended: 
** Can't  you  put  us  on  to  something  for  our  ex- 
penses T*  My  friend  knew  of  a  stock  that  was 
being  marked  up,  and  ** bought**  some  for  the  dis- 
tinguished visitors.  They  **made**  ten  thousand 
dollars.  We  can  easily  understand  how  these  men 
could  spend  ten  thousand  dollars  in  two  weeks 
when  the  money  came  in  such  a  fashion. 

In  addition  to  this  large  transient  population  of 
rich  pleasure-seekers,  there  are  the  many  success- 
ful rich  from  other  cities  who  come  here  to  live. 
New  York  is  a  pleasanter  place  than  San  Fran- 
cisco, Butte,  Chicago,  or  Pittsburgh.  They  come 
for  pleasure.  But  pleasure  for  the  rich  is  only 
to  be  got  through  wide  social  connection.  The 
expenditure  of  these  great  fortunes  levied  by  New 
York,  is,  with  some  splendid  exceptions,  in  the 
direction  of  social  impression.    The  shorter  purses 


178     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

are  always  crying  out  at  the  advance  in  prices 
made  by  the  appearance  of  Pittsburgh  fortunes, 
or  munition  fortunes,  and  the  higher  figures  the 
new  millions  are  willing  to  pay  for  clothes,  horses, 
houses,  servants,  motors,  yachts,  or  old  masters. 

Remember,  too,  that  few  New  Yorkers  live 
within  sight  of  their  shops,  stores,  mills,  or  mines. 
The  human  toil  associated  with  the  production  of 
wealth,  and  the  pathetic  disparity  between  the 
lives  of  his  working-people  and  his  own  luxury, 
ordinarily  tend  to  restrain  a  man's  extravagance 
at  the  mint  of  his  fortunes.  This  restraint  is  re- 
moved when,  as  in  New  York,  the  sources  of 
wealth  are  distant,  as  is  the  case  especially  with 
those  who  have  migrated  from  the  scenes  of  their 
successful  struggles.  Extravagance  in  New  York 
has  not  the  conscientious  check  of  the  memory  of 
toil.  The  greasy  operative,  the  grimy  miner,  the 
sweaty  iron  worker,  the  bloody  ** packer,''  the 
panting  stoker,  can  all  be  forgotten  in  the  evening 
sheen  of  Fifth  Avenue  asphalt,  and  in  the  social 
remoteness  of  fashionable  quarters. 

Another  thing  is  to  be  observed.  Since  social 
advantages  and  pleasures  are  largely  the  aim  of 
these  migrant  fortunes,  the  city  and  its  affairs 
are  no  more  thought  of  than  if  the  owner  were  in 
Paris  or  in  Rome.  The  negative  example  of 
neglect  of  civic  responsibility,  added  to  the  posi- 
tive example  of  vice-breeding  waste,  seriously 
accuses  the  rich  of  a  certain  class  in  New  York. 

There  are  one  or  two  other  ways,  channels  of 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    179 

real  and  harmful  influence,  by  which  the  rich  in 
New  York,  in  a  degree  that  cannot  be  said  of 
other  cities  in  America,  affect  the  poor.  There 
is  no  city  in  the  world  where  all  classes  of  men 
and  women  are  so  well  dressed.  Such  an  outward 
appearance  of  comfort  and  even  of  elegance  is 
not  a  disadvantage.  The  most  salient  impression 
of  the  first  Sound  Money  Parade  was  produced  by 
the  fact  that  up  Fifth  Avenue  were  marching 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  men,  ununi- 
formed  but  all  remarkably  well  dressed.  Twenty 
years  later  the  Preparedness  Parade  of  1916  gave 
the  same  impression  of  unexampled  prosperity. 

When  we  note,  as  we  are  forced  to  in  New 
York,  the  extremes  of  feminine  fashion,  and  its 
expense;  when  further  we  perceive  shop-girls 
emulating  their  customers,  we  discover  the  peril- 
ous range  of  vicious  temptation  for  the  poor 
girls  who  love  to  display  mock  finery  and  arti- 
ficial complexions. 

There  is  another  influence  not  free  from  its 
contribution  of  misunderstanding  between  classes 
in  our  great  cities.  This  is  the  effect  produced  by 
those  who  figure  as  well-to-do  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  but  whose  relation  to  servants  and  trades- 
people is  marked  by  closest  economy.  The  rich 
are  too  careless  about  their  servants ;  as  the  num- 
ber increases  accommodations  decrease.  Besides 
this  phase  there  is  another,  that  of  neglected 
bills.  Expensive  tailors  admit  that  in  their  ex- 
orbitant charges  they  have  to  consider  and  in- 


180     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

elude  the  loss  from  slow  accounts,  and  from 
those  who  love  to  wear  the  best  without  paying. 
This  effect  of  the  apparently  rich  upon  the  poor 
is  decidedly  unfavorable.  The  poor  lose  money 
and  respect  at  the  same  time. 

The  Tenement  House  and  Maladjustment 

As  land  values  increase,  which  they  must  do 
in  a  growing  country,  and  especially  in  a  metrop- 
olis surrounded  by  water,  the  rental  value  of  the 
land  must  increase.  As  land  values  mount  up, 
the  buildings  which  cover  land  grow  larger.  The 
tenement-homes  grow  smaller,  and  children  are 
crowded  into  the  street.  That  mediaeval  death  by 
torture — the  room  which  came  together  and  nar- 
rowed itself  in  every  dimension  upon  its  victim — 
is  a  reality  today  in  New  York.  The  mechanical 
pressure  is  rent. 

The  tenement-house  problem  in  our  American 
cities  is  one  that  wealth  has  studied  but  has  not 
solved.  In  New  York  philanthropic  building  com- 
panies cannot  use  land  that  costs  more  than 
$10,000  a  lot  (25  ft.  x  100  ft.).  This  limitation 
forces  model  tenement  building  far  uptown — ^be- 
yond the  congested  districts.  The  size  of  the  pri- 
vate house  lot,  the  normal  unit,  has  bedeviled  the 
tenement-house  construction.  The  attempt  con- 
tinually being  made  to  house  many  families  in 
place  of  one,  on  a  25-foot  lot,  has  resulted 
in  covering  too  large  a  percentage   of  the  lot 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    181 

and  in  banishing  light  and  air  from  interior 
rooms. 

American  cities  might  well  learn  of  Glasgow, 
London,  and  Berlin  the  advantage  of  municipal 
dwellings  built  on  large  areas  with  play  space, 
kindergarten-rooms,  up-to-date  laundry  facilities 
— in  fact,  everything  that  makes  for  the  health 
and  convenience  of  the  family,  yet  at  a  moderate 
rental. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  approximately  2,866,000 
—that  is  to  say,  about  650,000  or  657,000  fami- 
lies— are  living  in  apartments  for  which  they  pay 
under  $25  a  month  rent.  This  rental  means  about 
one-fourth  of  an  income  of  $1,200  a  year.  But  a 
rent  much  below  $25  a  month  in  a  congested  part 
of  the  city  will  not  secure  bathrooms  and  rooms 
for  families  with  several  members. 

Overcrowded,  dark  rooms  and  bad  ventilation 
are  friends  of  the  saloon  and  of  all  the  vicious  and 
criminal  influences  that  make  the  saloon  their  club- 
house. Here  then  is  an  eminently  suitable  field 
for  community  wealth  to  be  expended  in  a  fashion 
to  assist  the  Americanization  of  the  poor — par- 
ticularly the  immigrant  who  on  landing  finds  his 
home  in  the  lowest  grade  of  tenements.  To  pro- 
vide good  homes  is  surely  to  help  Americanization. 

The  tenements  are  largely  owned  by  the  rich 
and  could  be  bettered.  But  here,  too,  business 
considerations  prevail.  It  is  claimed  the  land 
downtown  will  be  needed  so  soon  for  commercial 
purposes,  that  it  would  be  throwing  money  away 


182     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

to  build,  meanwhile,  improved  tenements.  The 
city  grows  by  such  great  strides  that  these  fore- 
easts  are  plausible,  though  often  mistaken  or  mis- 
applied. 

Even  after  learning  the  lesson  of  complete  in- 
dividualism taught  by  diminished  land  values; 
even  after  passing  zoning  laws,  New  York  in 
order  to  utilize  old  residences  for  tenements  is 
willing  to  go  back  on  fifteen  years  of  progress  in 
its  housing  program. 


Putting  the  Question  Faibly 

The  responsibility  of  the  rich  for  the  poor  is 
not  merely  a  critical  responsibility,  that  is  to  say, 
not  a  question  merely  involving  the  injurious 
effect  of  riches  on  any  side  of  the  social  fabric. 
The  relation  of  the  rich  to  the  poor  extends  to  the 
question  of  the  value  of  philanthropic  effort,  the 
rich  man's  usual  recommendation  as  a  cure  for 
social  and  industrial  ills.  The  relation  of  the  rich 
to  the  poor  extends  also  to  the  roots  of  law  and 
justice  as,  after  all,  possibly  founded  in  group 
power,  privilege  and  in  class  legislation  rather 
than  in  the  dictates  of  common  humanity. 

The  rich,  as  landlords  much  concerned  over 
taxation,  can  be  regarded  as  controlling  the  hous- 
ing problem,  the  school  system,  the  money  spent 
on  public  health  and,  in  general,  the  rate  of  civic 
improvement.  Above  all,  the  private  ownership 
of  public  utilities  fundamentally  affects  the  in- 


ARE  RICH  AMERICANS  AIDING?    183 

come  and  the  administration  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment. 

^^ After  the  war/*  says  the  National  Municipal 
League,  *^you  will  hear  the  cry  of  efficiency  and 
economy  in  government  louder  than  ever,  espe- 
cially when  cities  begin  to  broaden  their  functions 
and  exercise  new  ones  in  coping  with  new  prob- 
lems. But  they  should  be  foreseen.*'  Is  it  not 
the  duty  of  the  rich,  who  should  be  especially  well 
educated  and  experienced,  to  take  the  lead  in  the 
new  glory  of  American  cities? 

If  the  rich  American  has  not  conspicuously 
assisted  the  newcomers  to  this  country  in  their 
adjustment  to  its  ideas  and  institutions,  he  may 
have  earnestly  supposed  that  his  principles  and 
his  labors  contributed  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
country.  As  a  standard  by  which  to  measure  his 
contribution,  I  would  suggest  a  sentence  from  a 
play  by  Ferdinand  Lassalle: 

'*We  owe  ourselves  to  those  great  purposes  for  the 
accomplishment  of  which  generations  are  sent  into  the 
world  as  workmen.  I  have  done  what  I  could.  I  feel 
relieved  and  happy  like  one  who  has  honorably  paid 
his  debt.'* 

Have  rich  Americans  paid  this  debt? 

American  democracy  has  not  learned  Nietz- 
sche's lesson:  *^Life  is  that  which  must  ever  sur- 
pass itself."  Like  a  rabble  sacking  a  palace  it 
wastes  valuable  time  putting  on  the  clothes  and 


184    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

accouterments  of  courts  and  kings,  parading 
for  self-inspection  through  the  hall  of  mirrors, 
or  calling  to  each  other  in  childish  envy  or  de- 
light. When  shall  we  recover  ourselves  and  quit 
this  masquerade  of  the  old  world?  When  shall  we 
found  a  new  world  of  **folks,'*  all  participating 
in  the  fruit  of  man  *s  struggle  with  nature  ?  Dem- 
ocracy like  life  is  that  which  must  *  *  ever  surpass 
itself/' 


IX 

THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE  AND 
COMPETITION 


"It  is  no  baseness  for  the  greatest  to  descend  and  look  into 
their  own  estate." 

Bacon, 
on  Expense. 

"  There  is  enough  food  wasted  daily  in  New  York  to  give  argu- 
ment to  an  army  of  anarchists." 

Sib  Herbert  Beerbohm  Tree. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE  AND 
COMPETITION 

rpHE  Commercial  Economy  Board  appointed  by 
^  the  Advisory  Committee  of  the  Council  of 
National  Defense  has  the  task  of  cutting  down 
waste  in  the  distribution  of  all  commodities  dur- 
ing the  war.  The  Board  hopes  to  obtain  the  co- 
operation of  citizens  in  reducing  waste. 

How  important,  therefore,  it  is  that  we  should 
know  the  directions  in  which  the  country  is  waste- 
ful. For  instance,  Mr.  Vanderlip,  President  of 
the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York,  is  quoted 
by  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  in  his  pamphlet, 
*  *  The  Personal  Relation  to  Industry, ' '  as  saying : 
**I  have  seen  the  statement  that  in  a  single  year 
the  loss  that  could  be  attributed  to  labor  disturb- 
ances in  this  country  totals  more  than  a  billion 
dollars.'' 

If  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Gompers  to  La- 
bor is  accepted  and  carried  out, — namely  that 
there  should  be  no  strikes  during  the  war, — this 
annual  billion  dollars  will  be  saved,  a  very  tidy 
sum,  especially  in  war  times. 

As  war  is  fundamentally  an  economic  drive  for 
larger  means  of  wealth,  or  for  defending  what 

187 


188     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

we  have,  or  to  secure  better  terms  for  our 
trade, — ^wages,  profits,  and  prices  can  make  war 
or  peace. 

Suppose  that  the  United  States  finds  itself  at 
a  loss,  after  the  European  struggle  is  ended,  be- 
cause the  warring  countries  have  greater  indus- 
trial efficiency  and  can  undersell  it.  Suppose 
Asiatic  markets  are  closed  to  us.  At  any  rate, 
suppose  cheaper  Asiatic  labor  going  into  manu- 
facture can  undersell  us,  we  shall  be  forced  back 
upon  efficiency  and  the  saving  of  waste  for  pros- 
perity or  into  war  with  countries  beating  us 
industrially. 

All  the  ** isms''  which  make  the  capitalists  have 
bad  dreams — anarchy,  socialism,  communism,  and 
the  rest, — are  merely  devices  thought  of  by 
the  poor,  or  their  champions,  for  giving  them 
more  opportunity,  for  providing  a  richer  and 
more  interesting  life.  If,  therefore,  a  republic 
like  America  can  discover  ways  of  bringing  these 
results  to  pass  without  the  aid  of  any  of  these 
terrifying  isms,  such  information  ought  to  be 
heeded. 

The  United  States  could  pay  Great  Britain's 
war  debts  out  of  its  annual  waste.  We  waste  in 
easily  controlled  directions  an  amount  of  property 
equal  to  what  our  people  earn.  We  squander  every 
twelve  months  more  than  the  combined  resources 
of  the  central  banks  of  England,  France,  Italy, 
Spain,  Norway,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  Denmark, 
Japan,  and  Germany.     If  this  amount  could  be 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        189 

saved  and  distributed  pro  rata  to  our  people  the 
inadequate  income  of  the  average  working-man  ^s 
family  would  be  changed  to  one  that  placed  him 
in  a  class  of  economic  independence. 

Moral  Obligations  to  Prevent  Waste 

A  nation  has  no  right  to  permit  the  degradation 
of  its  working-classes,  their  inadequate  educa- 
tion, their  physical  deterioration,  when  amazing 
amounts  of  property  are  carelessly  allowed  to 
perish.  A  nation  has  a  moral  obligation  to  pre- 
vent waste  in  the  interests  of  those  who  lack  the 
necessaries  of  life  and  the  social  opportunity 
which  is  built  upon  substantial  income. 

The  saving  of  waste  is,  in  fact,  so  large  a  sub- 
ject that  it  runs  quite  beyond  the  items  of  value 
which  are  carelessly  destroyed.  The  whole  prob- 
lem of  individual  as  well  as  social  life  is  prac- 
tically the  preservation  of  its  potential  energy 
and  the  prevention  of  waste.  The  new  psychol- 
ogy, which  sums  up  in  the  word  ** libido*'  the 
various  energies  of  the  individual,  can  be  studied 
in  its  relation  to  the  direction  of  this  expenditure. 
The  problem  of  the  individual  is  to  preserve  the 
libido  from  diffusion  and  to  direct  it  to  the  high- 
est strength  and  most  valuable  use.  Good  and 
bad,  right  and  wrong,  are  defined  by  this  direc- 
tion or  misdirection.*  Our  personal  life  problem 
is  prevention  of  waste  of  vital  forces. 

*  Compare  William  White,  "  The  Mechanisms  of  Character 
Formation,"  p.  320. 


190     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Waste  Due  to  Poor  Organization  and  Method 

**  Already  we  are  beginning  to  see  that,  in  the  light 
of  its  possibilities,  industry  today  is  inconceivably 
wasteful.  The  raw  product  is  won  from  the  earth,  it  is 
transported  hundreds  of  miles  over  expensive  railroads, 
it  passes  through  ten  or  twenty  different  manipulators, 
is  manufactured,  and  passes  again  through  an  in- 
finitely complicated  series  of  operations  to  the  ulti- 
mate consumer.  The  great  water-power  resources  of 
this  country  are  said  to  be  not  one-seventh  developed. 
Yet  their  primary  power  alone  'exceeds  our  entire  me- 
chanical power  in  use,  would  operate  every  mill,  drive 
every  spindle,  propel  every  train  and  boat,  and  light 
every  city,  town,  and  village  in  the  country.'  "  * 

The  Waste  op  Mental  Power 

Two  tabulations  of  men  of  genius  have  been 
made  which  have  been  received  by  scientific  men 
as  of  considerable  authority.  Sir  Francis  Galton, 
taking  one  hundred  Englishmen  of  recognized 
ability,  found  only  four  per  cent,  to  be  from  the 
working-class.  M.  Odin  made  a  study  of  6,382 
men  of  genius  in  France.  ** Labor*'  was  repre- 
sented by  nine  per  cent.  The  contrast  is  so 
sharp  between  labor  and  the  upper  classes  as  to 
lead  Monsieur  Odin  to  exclaim  **  Genius  is  in 
things,  not  in  man.''  Classified,  Odin's  list  is 
as  follows: 

*  J.  Russell  Smith,  "  Industrial  and  Commercial  Geography," 
p.  398. 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        191 

Nobility 25.5^ 

Government  officials   20.0^ 

Liberal  professions    23.0^ 

Bourgeoisie    11.6^ 

Manual  laborers  9.8^ 


Only  a  little  over  one-fifth  of  the  talented  were 
produced  by  the  two  lower  classes. 

These  figures  confirm  the  observation  of  those 
who  have  to  do  with  the  poor,  such  as  clergymen, 
social  workers,  etc.,  who  find  unusual  latent  ca- 
pacity locked  up  in  conditions  of  life  and  of  occu- 
pation from  which  it  cannot  win  opportunity  for 
its  development. 

When  it  is  remembered  also  that  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  school  children  of  America  go  no  far- 
ther than  the  grammar  school,  it  can  be  seen  how 
little  is  done  to  develop  by  education  the  latent 
powers  of  the  mind.  Furthermore,  when  it  is 
observed  that  the  method  of  secondary  and  uni- 
versity education  in  America  has  little  in  it  ex- 
cept formal  studies  supposed  to  develop  the 
powers  of  thought, — little  for  thought  itself 
upon  the  problems  of  life,  we  are  not  surprised 
at  the  comparatively  small  production  of  ability 
distinguished  enough  to  be  called  talent  or  genius 
in  gigantic  populations  of  tens  of  millions.  **The 
rational  and  causal  in  education  are  hardly  ever 
appealed  to.'*  When  education  really  brings  out 
what  is  in  our  youth,  democracy  will  make  mag- 
ical contributions  to  civilization. 


192     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

''But  by  waste  I  mean  (says  Henry  W.  Nevin- 
son)  the  multitude  of  boys  and  girls  who  never  get 
a  chance  of  fulfilling  their  inborn  capacities.  The  coun- 
try's greatest  shame  and  disaster  arise  from  the  custom 
which  makes  the  line  between  the  educated  and  the  un- 
educated follow  the  line  between  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
almost  without  deviation.  That  a  nature  capable  of 
high  development  should  be  precluded  by  poverty  from 
all  development  is  the  deepest  of  personal  and  national 
disasters,  though  it  happen,  as  it  does  happen,  several 
thousand  times  a  year.  Physical  waste  is  bad  enough — 
the  waste  of  strength  and  health  that  could  easily  be  re- 
tained by  fresh  air,  open  spaces,  and  decent  food,  and 
is  so  retained  among  well-to-do  children.  This  physical 
waste  has  already  created  such  a  broad  distinction  that 
foreigners  coming  among  us  detect  two  species  of  the 
English  people.    But  the  mental  waste  is  worse. 

"Boys  who  might  become  classical  scholars  (he  writes) 
stick  labels  onto  parcels  for  ten  years,  others  who  have 
literary  gifts  dear  out  a  brewer's  vat.  Keal  thinkers 
work  as  porters  in  metal  warehouses,  and  after  shoul- 
dering iron  fittings  for  eleven  hours  a  day,  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  set  their  minds  in  order.  .  .  .  With  even  the 
average  boy  there  is  a  marked  waste  of  mental  capital 
between  the  ages  of  ten  and  thirty,  and  the  aggregate 
loss  to  the  country  is  heavy  indeed. ' '  * 

Defense  of  Waste 

Waste  is  even  a  defended  part  of  onr  industrial 
system.  In  some  manufactures,  as,  for  instance, 
cotton  spinning,  it  is  cheaper  to  permit  waste  and 
to  speed  the  machinery,  thereby  securing  larger 

*  Henry  W.  Nevinson,  "Essays  in  Rebellion,"  p.  82. 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        193 

product,  than  to  go  more  slowly  with  a  smaller 
production  and  provide  time  for  the  operatives 
to  save  waste. 

The  shutting  down  of  works  when  competing 
businesses  consolidate  is  a  common  loss  of  pro- 
duction. 

The  burning  or  destruction  of  crops  where 
there  is  not  a  good  market  in  order  to  produce 
high  prices  is  a  common  practice.  Excessive 
freight  and  commission  charges  discourage  pro- 
duction. Not  long  ago  Jersey  fishermen  dumped 
into  the  sea  1,000  barrels  of  fish  weighing  250 
pounds  each,  because  the  freight  and  commission 
charges  would  not  be  met  by  the  price  of  the  fish 
in  New  York. 

The  pigeon-holing  of  invention,  or  the  rejection 
of  inventions,  by  companies  in  control  of  given 
outputs,  and  having  capital  invested  in  old  ma- 
chinery, is  responsible  for  enormous  waste  in 
terms  of  possible  product.  Invention  is  the 
method  by  which  the  world  advances  in  its  power 
over  nature;  to  throttle  invention  is  to  kill 
progress. 

Causes  of  Waste 

Our  theory  of  ownership  permits  every  one  to 
do  as  he  wishes  with  his  property,  even  to  destroy 
it,  and  does  not  encourage  a  general  co-operation, 
except  for  personal  gain. 

Whatever  justification  may  be  offered  for  this 


194     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

waste,  the  destruction  of  the  values  involved 
limits  the  amount  of  wealth  at  the  disposal  of  the 
community,  and  this  limitation  of  wealth  is  con- 
sciously accomplished  by  the  wealth-producing 
class.  The  present  organization  of  business  con- 
siders waste  or  suppression  of  production  to  be 
legitimate.  The  curtailing  of  economic  waste 
under  a  competitive  and  private  ownership  sys- 
tem seems  well-nigh  impossible,  and  its  advan- 
tage when  secured  is  too  largely  added  to  divi- 
dends, not  wages. 

Extent  of  Oub  Economic  Waste 

The  following  is  a  significant  collection  of 
items  of  annual  waste  in  the  United  States, 
which  I  have  picked  up  in  casual  reading :  * 

1.  Waste  through  Carelessness  and  Ignorance 

Natural  Resourcea 

Soil  erosion    $  50,000,000 

Flood  and  freshet  238,000,000 

Non-use  of  water  power 600,000,000 

Poor  Method 

Lumbering,  waste  of  by-product  . .  300,000,000 

Mining,  waste  of  by-product  55,000,000 

Fuel   500,000,000 

Fire  losses   235,000,000 

Cost  of  insurance  250,000,000 

Fire  prevention  450,000,000 

Forest  fires 50,000,000 

In  smoke,  by  poor  stoking 600,000,000 

Gas     45,000,000 

Inefficiency  in  national.  State,  and 

daylight  municipal  work 300,000,000 

Preventable  Diseases  of  Livestock 93,000,000 

Insect  and  Animal  Pests 

Rats  100,000,000 

Rodents  (exclusive  of  rats)    110,236,000 

Insects  420,000,000 

*  See  Appendix. 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        195 

2.  Waste  through  Faulty  Economics 

Transportation  Losses 

Railroad  mismanagement   600,000,000 

Transportation  accidents 25,000,000 

Careless  handling  of  fish,  eggs,  fruit  40,000,000 

Decay  and  loss  in  transit 1,000,500,000 

Labor  Maladjustments 

Occupational  diseases 1,000,000,000 

Industrial  accidents 13,000,000 

Unemployment     3,500,000,000 

Strikes  and  lockouts 1,000,000,000 

Domestic  inefficiency   300,000,000 

3.  Social  Waste 

Personal  Extravagance  * 

Cheap  shows    60,000,000 

Tobacco   825,000,000 

Alcohol    1,600,000,000 

Chewing  gum 15,000,000 

Drugs    27,500,000 

Patent  medicine    75,476,032 

Soft  drinks  107,536,000 

Confectionery  178,000,000 

Food  in  families  1,012,777,750 

Defective  Classes 

Backward  pupils 26,000,000 

Feeble-minded    85,000,000 

Insane    135,000,000 

Disease 

Preventable  disease 1,000,000,000 

Death  of  children 2,627,300,000 

Illiteracy    1,500,000,000 

Homicide  and  suicide 40,000,000 

$21,189,325,782 

Besides  the  above  forms  of  waste,  amounting 
to  $21,000,000,000,  there  are  others  of  enormous 
cost,  such  as:  the  care  and  unproductiveness  of 
criminals,  care  and  unproductiveness  of  alco- 
holics, care  and  unproductiveness  of  drug  fiends, 
fatigue  from  overwork,  over-capitalization  in  the 
United  States,  industrial  inefficiency,  bankruptcy, 
undeveloped  land  in  cities. 

A.  M.  Simons  in  an  article,  **  Wasting  Human 


196     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Life,**  quoted  in  a  pamphlet  by  J.  Pickering 
Putnam,  gives  the  following  summary  of  wasted 
wealth : 

Summary  of  Wasted  Wealth 

Using  imperfect  machinery $  3,000,000,000 

Twenty-five  per  cent,  of  factories  idle,  could  pro- 
duce     5,000,000,000 

Waste  of  coke  ovens 50,000,000 

Restriction  of  patents      2,000,000,000 

Manufacture  of  useless  and  harmful  articles 1,000,000,000 

Imperfect  methods  of  agriculture  18,000,000,000 

Maintenance  of  fences  1,250,000,000 

Lands  used  for  horses  1,000,000,000 

Multiplied  production  through  application  of  power  27,000,000,000 

Bad  roads  1,000,000,000 

Marketing  of  farm  products 4,500,000,000 

Advertising    2,000,000,000 

Fire  and  insurance   (unnecessary)    500,000,000 

Military  and  naval  expenditures 600,000,000 

Unemployed    8,000,000,000 

Individual  kitchens  and  housekeeping  plants  ....  1,728,000,000 
Possible  production  of  nine  million  people  need- 
lessly killed   18,000,000,000 

Sickness  exclusive  of  nursing  by  families 1,000,000,000 

Extending  average  productive  life  twenty  years  . .  10,000,000,000 

Total    $105,628,000,000 

Sidney  A.  Reeve  puts  our  waste  from  com- 
petition at  $25,000,000,000.  These  figures  are 
founded  upon  census  returns — production  com- 
pared with  advertisement,  office  upkeep,  salaries 
of  traveling  salesmen,  et  cetera,  in  fact,  all  devices 
for  securing  a  profit,  not  creating  products. 


There  Are  Many  **  Worst  Forms  of  Waste'* 

Various     **  authorities ' '     have     their     private 
**  worst  forms '*  of  waste. 

Mr.  Hoover  reckons  the  waste  in  every  Ameri- 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        197 

can  family  to  amount  to  $50  a  year.  According 
to  the  census  of  1910  there  were  in  America 
20,255,555  families ;  accordingly  there  is  an  annual 
family  waste  of  $1,012,777,750. 

Carl  Vrooman,  Assistant  Secretary  of  Agricul- 
ture, states  that  the  prize  waste  of  the  champion 
wasters,  the  world's  greatest  single  preventable 
economic  leak,  is  barnyard  fertilizer. 

Professor  Irving  Fisher  warns  us  of  the  eco- 
nomic waste  of  preventable  disease;  the  money 
value  of  increased  vitality.  Estimating  the  num- 
ber of  the  preventable  deaths  at  800,000,  and  each 
life  as  an  industrial  loss  of  $1,700,  an  annual  pre- 
ventable loss  is  shown  of  $1,360,000,000.* 

**The  average  length  of  life  at  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century  in  Europe  was  only  between  18 
and  20  years ;  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  a  lit- 
tle over  30;  today  it  is  between  38  and  40  years. 
At  least  fourteen  years  could  be  added  to  human 
life  by  the  partial  elimination  of  preventable 
diseases.'* 

Daylight  saving  in  the  United  States  for  the 
five  summer  months  1917  (in  the  lighting  bill 
alone)  would  have  yielded  $140,000,000.1  It 
would  also  have  left  unused  one  million  tons 
of  coal. 

*  Report  on  National  Vitality,  Irving  Fisher,  p.  119. 
t  Marcus  M.  Marks,  Munigipal  Review,  1917,  pp.  466-467. 


198     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Coal  Waste   $500,000,000  —  Inefficient   Power 
Plants  Largely  to  Blame,  Says  Manning 

**  Washington,  July  15. — According  to  Van  H.  Man- 
ning, Director  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines, 
fully  a  half  billion  dollars  was  wasted  last  year  in  this 
country  through  the  inefficient  use  of  coal.  Mr.  Man- 
ning said  this  waste  was  continuing  at  an  even  greater 
rate  and  at  a  much  larger  penalty  to  the  country,  be- 
cause of  the  increase  in  the  price  of  coal. 

**  'Last  year  the  United  States  mined  six  hundred 
million  tons  of  coal,  the  greatest  production  ever  wit- 
nessed in  the  world,  and  of  this  amount  we  wasted 
one  hundred  fifty  million  tons,  or  twenty-five  per  cent., 
through  inefficient  use. 

*'  *As  an  example,  in  the  modern,  efficient  power 
plants  of  the  country  20  per  cent,  of  the  heat  in  the 
coal  consumed  is  converted  into  power,  whereas  in  the 
small  power  stations  the  efficiency  frequently  drops 
below  10  per  cent.  The  average  efficiency  of  all  steam 
power  plants  in  the  United  States  is  probably  5  or  6 
per  cent,  of  the  energy  of  the  coal.  If  it  were  possible 
to  elevate  the  average  efficiency  to  the  maximum  attain- 
able, about  three  times  as  much  energy  would  be 
available.'  '' 

Waste  in  Time 

The  New  York  Telephone  Company,  July,  1917, 
printed  an  advertisement  in  the  New  York  papers 
which  stated  that  the  Bell  System  handles  thirty 
million  telephone  calls  a  day.  **If  on  each  of 
these  calls  an  average  of  one  minute  could  be 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        199 

saved  by  more  efficient  use  of  the  telephone,  thirty 
million  minutes  more  could  be  devoted  to  produc- 
tive work.  This  would  be  a  tremendous  contri- 
bution to  national  efficiency.  It  would  mean  a 
saving  of  20,833  days  of  twenty-four  hours  each — 
a  saving  of  fifty-seven  years  every  day!*' 

Waste  of  Hiking  and  Fieing 

One  of  the  greatest  sources  of  industrial  waste 
in  America  is  what  is  picturesquely  termed 
** hiring  and  firing.**  America  has  to  keep  a  sur- 
plus of  labor  idle  to  take  places  constantly  being 
vacated  on  account  of  the  maladjustment  of  the 
worker  or  the  misunderstanding  of  the  boss.  This 
is  largely  due  to  a  lack  of  early  training  which 
quickly  adapts  the  worker  to  his  job;  in  part  it  is 
due  to  the  aims  of  women  workers  which  to  some 
extent  are  outside  of  success  in  their  particular 
vocations  and  lead  to  endless  change  of  position 
and  calling. 

Mr.  Magnus  W.  Alexander,  engineer  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  at  the  twentieth  annual 
conference  of  the  National  Association  of  Manu- 
facturers, said  that  in  his  opinion  hiring  and 
firing  represents  the  greatest  leakage  in  modem 
business.  Twelve  metal  factories  in  six  different 
States  were  carefully  studied. 

**The  factories  took  on  during  the  year  42,571 
employees,  or  22,031  persons  more  than  were  abso- 
lutely necessary.     Each  of  those  22,031  persons 


200     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

cost  the  factories  from  $50  to  $200  each,  for  broken 
tools,  spoiled  work,  the  reduced  rate  of  produc- 
tion, and  the  additional  office  expense  incurred 
through  the  necessity  for  the  maintenance  of  an 
extra  clerical  force  to  keep  track  of  the  temporary 
workers  and  the  hiring  of  foremen  and  assistants 
to  instruct  them.  Altogether,  it  was  computed, 
the  unnecessary  engagement  of  22,031  employees 
caused  the  factories  in  question  an  aggregate  loss 
of  $831,030/'* 

The  Waste  of  Casual  Labor 

**  Casual  labor  is  the  greatest  of  all  maladjust- 
ments. A  man  who  changes  constantly  from  job 
to  job,  with  periods  of  idleness  between,  comes  to 
every  job  demoralized,  unskilled,  unsteady,  and 
unfit ;  but  casual  labor,  as  the  matter  now  stands, 
is  still  demanded  in  some  industries.  It  is  con- 
venient for  employers.  It  is  the  employer  in  the 
first  instance  who  needs  readjustment.'*  t 

But  it  is  the  casual  laborer,  being  at  the  bottom 
of  the  industrial  scale,  who  first  enters  the  ranks 
of  the  unemployed  in  seasons  of  industrial  de- 
pression. In  the  winter  of  1913  and  1914  it  was 
estimated  that  there  were  nine  millions  of  people 
in  the  United  States  out  of  employment.  This  was 
a  waste  amounting  to  $13,500,000  a  day  for  several 
months. 

Perhaps  the  worst  phase  of  the  position  of  the 

*  Industrial  Conservator,  N.  Y.,  April  25,  1917. 

t  Edward  T.  Devine,  "  Misery  and  Its  Causes,"  p.  131. 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        201 

casual  laborer  is  that  no  one  regards  him  as  worth 
consideration  except  at  harvest  time  or  in  seasons 
of  prosperity.  He  easily  gravitates,  it  is  sup- 
posed, into  the  yeggman,  semi-criminal,  or  crim- 
inal class.  But  out  of  his  flesh  and  blood  the 
country  to  a  large  extent  recoups  itself  when  in 
periods  of  economy  it  retrenches.  A  class  which 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  salvation  of  crops 
and  to  the  building  of  railroads,  wharves,  reser- 
voirs, etc.,  has  a  moral  claim  upon  the  com- 
munity to  be  given  at  least  a  livelihood  between 
hurry  call  periods  of  national  expansion. 

The  Army  as  an  ABSORBEti  of  Waste 

Military  organization  while  itself  a  form  of 
waste  in  its  killed  and  wounded — in  its  absorp- 
tion of  national  wealth  for  its  support,  munitions, 
etc., — on  the  other  hand  utilizes  waste.  The 
first  volunteers  are  likely  to  be  men  of  leisure, 
sportsmen,  men  out  of  work,  individuals  who  are 
maladjusted  to  their  surroundings ;  even  the  hoo- 
ligans, apaches,  and  toughs;  superfluous  priests 
in  countries  overridden  by  the  clergy — at  last 
even  small  tradesmen  as  unnecessary  distributors 
of  produce.  In  fact,  the  army  takes  in,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  many  classes  of  consumers  who 
are  disclosed  in  the  glare  of  war  as  forming  no 
indispensable  part  of  the  productive  energies  of 
the  state. 

Unless  a  man  contributes  needed  power  to  one 


202     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

of  these  departments  of  the  state  he  is  a  man  with- 
out a  country.  He  is  a  waste  product.  He  is  un- 
assimilated  under  a  military  or  even  a  social 
organization  of  the  state. 

The  Significance  of  Waste 

Heard  in  war-time!  **I  can't  imagine  what  a 
billion  is.'* 

A  good  way  to  grasp  the  significance  of  a  bil- 
lion is  to  picture  all  the  people  in  the  United  States 
who  travelled  upon  all  the  railroads  east,  west, 
north,  south  in  a  prosperous  year,  ending  June, 
1916,  and  all  the  rides  of  the  commuters.  The 
number  was  1,005,683,174. 

To  understand  our  gigantic  annual  waste  let  us 
put  the  cost  of  waste  against  other  figures : 

Total  amount  waste  in  United  States  at  least...  $21,000,000,000 

Total  capital  of  railroads  in  United  States 20,000,000,000 

Total  bank  deposits 20,000,000,000 

Great  Britain's  war  debt,  estimated  to  Jan.,  1918  19,466,000,000 

Manufactures  of  United  States 25,000,000,000 

Savings 6,000,000,000 

Agriculture 9,000,000,000 

Known  amount  of  incomes  in  United  States,  1916, 

above  $3,000  by  375,515  persons 1,999,788,864 

Cost  of  educating  22,902,153  children  year  end- 
ing June,  1914 565,077,146 


it[ 


The  Committee  on  the  Standard  of  Living  thought 
it  was  a  safe  inference,  from  data  in  their  possession, 
that  an  income  under  $800,  however  earned,  is  not 
enough  to  permit  the  maintenance  of  a  normal  standard 
for  a  family  of  five  persons  in  the  city  of  New  York, 


THE  WASTE  OF  IGNORANCE        203 

1910.  Nearly  one-third  of  all  the  families  studied  by 
the  committee  with  incomes  from  $600  to  $800  were 
underfed.  The  average  expenditure  for  clothing  was 
less  than  necessary.  The  furnishings  of  apartments  were 
inadequate. ' '  * 

Fancy  the  blessings  for  such  a  family  if  there 
were  an  addition  to  its  income  of  $1,000  a  year, 
its  pro  rata  share  of  the  national  annual  saving 
of  waste  from  carelessness  and  ignorance:  it 
would  be  lifted  into  the  class  of  economic  inde- 
pendence with  all  the  blessings  of  additional  edu- 
cation, nourishment,  leisure,  and  recreation. 

The  question  of  waste  ranges  in  immediate 
practical  importance  from  the  saving  of  military 
energy  and  mental  penetration,  by  regulating 
camp  alcohol  and  prostitution,  through  the  saving 
of  coal,  food,  etc.,  to  the  levying  of  super-tax  upon 
great  incomes.  Advocates  for  the  rich  claim  that 
they  consume  little  more  than  do  the  poor, — mean- 
ing that  three  meals  a  day  and  clothing  are  the 
limit  of  consumption  and,  after  all,  the  difference 
between  **eat  and  grow  thin**  and  **eat  and  grow 
fat**  ought  not  be  80  per  cent,  super-tax. 

These  apologists  for  the  consuming  power  of  the 
rich,  who  would  reduce  it  to  breakfast  foods,  for- 
get the  cost  of  what  is  vulgarly  called  *  *  style,  *  *  or 
fashion.  Ostentation  and  extravagance  enslave 
and  waste  the  labor  of  thousands  of  personal 
attendants  who  set  the  stage  upon  which  wealth 
plays  its  part.     The  imprisonment  of  the  Czar, 

*  "  Misery  and  Its  Causes,"  Edward  T.  Devine,  pp.  107-108. 


204    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

we  are  told,  left  thousands  of  servants  without 
a  situation.  Then,  too,  there  is  *^the  vicarious 
expenditure''  of  those  connected  with  wealth — 
the  women  and  children. 

Let  us  end  with  Veblen's  trenchant  analysis 
of  wealth  and  waste.  **In  an  industrial  com- 
munity this  propensity  for  emulation  expresses 
itself  in  pecuniary  emulation,  and  this,  so  far 
as  regards  the  western  communities  of  the  pres- 
ent, is  virtually  equivalent  to  saying  that  it  ex- 
presses itself  in  some  form  of  conspicuous  waste. 
The  need  of  conspicuous  waste,  therefore,  stands 
ready  to  absorb  any  increase  in  the  communi- 
ties' industrial  eflficiency  or  output  of  goods, 
after  the  most  elementary  physical  wants  have 
been  provided. 

**The  popular  reprobation  of  waste  goes  to 
say  that  in  order  to  be  at  peace  with  himself 
the  common  man  must  be  able  to  see  in  any  and 
all  human  effort  and  human  enjoyment  an  en- 
hancement of  life  and  well-being  in  the  whole."  * 

*  T.  Veblen,  "  The  Theory  of  a  Leisure  Class,"  pp.  98,  110. 


MENTAL    ADJUSTMENT    THROUGH 

ORGANIZED  EFFORTS  FOR 

FREE  SPEECH 


"An  undesirable  society  ...  is  one  which  internally  and 
externally  sets  up  barriers  to  free  intercourse  and  communication 
of  experiences.  A  society  which  makef;  provision  for  participa- 
tion in  its  good  of  all  its  members  on  equal  terms  and  which 
secures  flexible  readjustment  of  its  institutions  through  inter- 
action of  the  different  forms  of  associated  life  is  in  so  far 
democratic." 

John  Dewey, 
Democracy  and  Education,  Chap.  VII. 

"  We  must  insist  in  every  instance  that  the  parties  come  into 
each  other's  presence  and  there  discuss  the  issues  between  them, 
and  not  separately  in  places  which  have  no  communication  with 
each  other." 

From  President  Wilson's  Address  to  the  Convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  Buffalo,  November  12,  1917. 

"Let  us  speak  thereof,  ye  wisest  ones,  even  though  it  be  bad. 
To  be  silent  is  worse;   all  suppressed  truths  become  poisonous. 

And  let  everything  break  up  which — can  break  up  by  our 
truths!     Many  a  house  is  still  to  be  built!  — 

Nietzsche,  Thus  Spake  Zarathustra. 


CHAPTER   X 

MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  THROUGH  ORGAN- 
IZED EFFORTS  FOR  FREE  SPEECH 

nPHE  hardest  time  to  keep  liberty  alive  is  during 
^  a  war  for  freedom.  When  a  column  of  fire  is 
guiding  the  victorious  armies  of  truth  and  jus- 
tice, a  pillar  of  cloud  seems  to  be  obscuring  truth 
and  justice  from  those  left  at  home. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  the  press 
are  the  two  antennae  of  democracy,  but  they  are 
hard  to  protect  even  in  a  democracy.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  grants  freedom  of 
speech : 

* '  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establish- 
ment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the 
press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble, 
and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of 
grievances. ' '  * 

Police  regulation  with  its  power  to  prevent  dis- 
turbances of  the  peace  and  disorderly  conduct 
easily  negatives  freedom  of  speech;  and  in  war- 
time not  only  does  government  censorship 
largely  suppress  it  but  militaristic  control  and 
influence  give  it  no  quarter. 

*  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Amendments,  Article  1. 

207 


208     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Suppression  obeys  a  psychological  law,  and  is 
followed  by  the  emergence  of  the  suppressed  in- 
stinct or  energy  in  another  form.  Free  speech, 
if  denied  street  corners  and  open  places,  flees  to 
halls;  refused  the  use  of  halls,  it  seeks  the  back 
rooms  of  clubs ;  prohibited  all  expression,  violence 
becomes  the  only  outlet  of  these  pent-up  moral 
forces. 

The  Forum  Hears  the  Cry  of  the  Expropriated 

The  purpose  of  the  Open  Forum  movement  is 
to  afford  the  freest  opportunity  for  the  busi- 
ness man  and  the  laboring  man  to  arrive,  by  open 
discussion,  at  a  better  understanding  of  the  vital 
questions  affecting  their  relationship ;  to  discover 
the  drift  of  industrial  progress ;  to  guard  against 
the  menace  of  unjust  industrial  development;  to 
forestall,  by  reasonable  and  humane  ways,  the 
settlement  by  sterner  methods;  to  do  its  part  to- 
ward the  essential  end  that  **the  arrogance  and 
whip  of  Capital  and  the  distrust  and  evil  weap- 
ons of  Labor  be  laid  aside,  so  that  their  hands 
may  be  free  to  join  in  the  grip  of  a  common 
interest. '  *  * 

A  brilliant  critic  of  American  life,  H.  G.  Wells, 
with  a  clairvoyant  perception  of  conditions  in 
this  country,  has  declared: 

'*The  American  community  is  discovering  a  secular 

extinction  of  opportunity  and  the  appearance  of  pow- 

*  Joseph  S.  Auerbach,  North  American  Review,  December,  1905. 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  209 

ers  against  which  individual  enterprise  and  competi- 
tion are  hopeless.  Enormous  sections  of  the  American 
public  are  losing  their  faith  in  any  personal  chance  of 
growing  rich  and  truly  free,  and  are  developing  the  con- 
sciousness of  an  expropriated  class. ' '  * 

But  Mr.  Wells  makes  no  discovery.  He  is 
merely  an  observer  like  others  before  him. 

**What  wrong  road  have  we  taken/'  asked 
Emerson  in  1848,  *Hhat  all  the  improvements  in 
machinery  have  helped  everybody  but  the  opera- 
tives? Here  they  have  incurably  hurt.'*  Thirty 
years  later  Henry  George  startled  complacent 
America  by  asking  why  poverty  persisted  while 
wealth  increased.  His  unpalatable  formula,  **the 
poor  are  growing  poorer  and  the  rich  are  grow- 
ing richer,*'  was  made  more  agreeable  by  Carroll 
D.  Wright,  who  explained  that  as  the  poor  were 
not  improving  their  condition  at  the  rate  the  rich 
were  advancing,  the  distance  between  them  was 
increasing.  Without  doubt  it  is  becoming  vastly 
harder,  as  John  Mitchell  points  out,  for  a  work- 
ing-man to  advance  beyond  his  sort  of  job  or  out 
of  his  class. 

**The  fact  which  is  most  full  of  meaning  at  the 
end  of  the  nineteenth  century,''  wrote  Professor 
Macgregor  in  his  ** Evolution  of  Industry,"  *4s 
the  existence  of  an  absolute  surplus  or  human 
residue  which  is  pauper  in  fact  though  not  in 
name"  (page  106). 

Individuals  are  not  wholly  to  blame  for  this  con- 

*  H.  G.  Wells,  "  The  Future  in  America,"  p.  81. 


210     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

dition  of  things;  industrial  evolutionary  forces, 
not  understood  until  the  mischief  was  done,  are 
also  responsible.  We  can  see  now  that  the 
working-man  under  the  financial  handling  of  the 
modern  factory  system  lost  his  status;  that  his 
wages  practically  buy  off  his  interest  in  the  firm ; 
that  machinery  and  joint  stock  companies  con- 
tributed to  push  apart  employers  and  employees, 
and  that  **the  nineteenth  century  in  working  out 
of  the  idea  of  power  by  means  of  combination  has 
stratified  and  classified  the  people  to  an  enor- 
mous extent. '  *  *  So  economic  analysis  confirms 
and  explains  the  separation  of  classes  that  condi- 
tions indicated  and  that  statistics  proved. 

Evidently  these  processes  of  class  separation, 
as  inhuman  in  their  effects  as  war  itself,  cannot 
go  on  indefinitely  without  a  catastrophe.  In 
America  they  have  already  led  to  bloodshed.  We 
are  constantly  presented,  here  in  America,  with 
working  models  of  civil  war.  **  Habit  alone,  *^ 
says  William  James,  **is  what  keeps  us  all  within 
the  bounds  of  ordinance  and  saves  the  children 
of  fortune  from  the  envious  uprisings  of  the 
poor.*'  But  habits  can  be  changed,  especially 
under  the  incentive  of  starvation  or  injustice. 

These  deadly  clashes,  which  breed  a  worse  ha- 
tred than  that  which  gives  rise  to  them,  cannot 
be  banished  from  our  attention  by  calling  them 
mere  exhibitions  of  an  industrial  unrest  as  old  as 
the  Pyramids.    The  exodus  of  the  Hebrews  from 

*Macgregor*8  "Evolution  of  Industry,"  p.  56. 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  211 

Egypt  was  a  strike  in  which  the  workers  did  not 
return  to  thair  work,  but  migrated.  The  French 
Revolution  was  a  strike  which  cost  the  employers 
their  heads  and  their  status.  Nor  can  we  for- 
ever **  jolly  *^  the  laborer  by  telling  him  that  he 
possesses  luxuries  that  kings  of  old  did  not 
dream  of.  Jauntily  to  talk  about  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  industrial  unrest  does  not  harmonize  class 
differences.  The  question  is,  What  is  going  to 
stop  this  pulling  asunder  before  it  is  too  late? 
What  is  going  to  bring  the  hostile  industrial 
forces  of  our  national  life  together  1  What  is  go- 
ing to  make  us  really  one  people — in  sympathies, 
ideals,  and  institutions'?  The  labor  question,  of 
course,  is  a  nuisance ;  but  we  can  say  of  it  what 
Emerson  said  of  the  question  of  slavery:  **It  has 
a  right  to  be  heard  and  the  people  plagued  with 
it  until  something  is  done. ' ' 

We  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  desired  results 
of  industrial  peace  and  of  national  unity  are  not 
to  be  secured  by  improving  coercive  machinery. 
To  destroy  trade-unions;  to  organize  State  con- 
stabularies ;  to  deny  free  speech  or  give  it  impos- 
sible definition ;  to  increase  the  list  of  offenses  for 
which  arrest  is  equivalent  to  conviction;  to  rob 
working-men  of  adequate  political  representation, 
is  not  a  solution  of  our  problems  of  class  es- 
trangement. 


212     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Capital,  Politics,  Church,  and  Education  Shun 

Labor 

Nor  are  we  encouraged  to  look  for  intellectual 
and  sympathetic  leadership  where  ordinarily 
some  leadership  is  expected.  Our  most  powerful 
financiers  and  captains  of  industry  are  not 
ashamed  to  testify  on  the  witness  stand  that  they 
have  not  studied  the  problems  involved  in  the 
present  issues — that  they  do  not  understand  the 
labor  question.  Naturally,  therefore,  they  can- 
not offer  any  help. 

Our  political  parties  represent  in  their  primary 
differences  not  economic,  but  constitutional  posi- 
tions. They  are  essentially  conservative;  even 
their  liberalism  is  considerate  of  the  small  capi- 
talist rather  than  of  the  proletariat.  The  New 
York  Constitutional  Convention  gave  no  heed  to 
the  memorial  and  recommendations  of  the  labor 
organizations.  A  great  newspaper  even  taunted 
the  labor  men  with  their  inability  to  retaliate. 
I  discover  no  friendliness  in  ordinary  American 
politics  toward  the  problems  of  the  working- 
classes.    This  is  Mr.  Wilson's  strength. 

The  clergy  notably  display  a  more  human  sym- 
pathy with  the  working-man's  economic  prob- 
lems, but  officially  the  churches  are  timid,  and 
their  laymen  are  too  often  reactionary.  In  the 
churches  there  is  being  developed  a  new  economic 
orthodoxy  which  enfeebles  their  contribution  to 
the  labor  problem.    Some  high  ecclesiastics  go  so 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  213 

far  as  to  declare  that  the  procession  oflife  with 
its  most  exalted  spiritual  vision  is  passing  along 
outside  the  Church.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
some  who  quote  Jesus  to  the  effect  that  the  divi- 
sion of  wealth  is  not  a  religious  problem. 

Colleges  do  not  teach  economics  and  sociology 
in  a  fashion  to  meet  the  situation.  There  are  a  few 
professors  to  whom  many  people  are  indebted. 
But  our  colleges  have  neither  led  public  opinion 
on  the  labor  problem  nor  qualified  their  graduates 
to  deal  with  it.  The  trustees  of  one  of  our  lead- 
ing universities  have  declared  publicly  that  eco- 
nomics should  teach  only  what  is  agreeable  to 
capitalists. 

The  working-people  are  well  aware  of  the  hos- 
tility of  the  capitalistic  classes  and  institutions. 
They  look  for  no  help  outside  themselves.  They 
have  been  deceived  and  disappointed  so  often  by 
pretended  friends  that  they  resent  help  from  out- 
side their  own  class;  to  accept  it  has  become  a 
mark  of  class  disloyalty. 

Some  Volunteer  Agencies 

In  default  of  constructive  help  from  accredited 
leaders  in  business,  politics,  religion,  and  educa- 
tion, volunteers  have  come  forward  with  new 
agencies  which  attempt  to  correct  destructive  in- 
dustrial tendencies;  to  bring  together  the  ex- 
tremes of  democracy;  to  spread  a  more  hopeful 
theory  of  human  nature  than  that  upon  which 


214     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

conservative  fears  are  reared,  and  to  broaden  the 
reach  of  economic  education. 

University  settlements,  founded  about  thirty 
years  ago,  set  out  to  bring  the  culture  of  Eng- 
lish college  cloisters  to  London  slums.  ''They 
are  homes  in  the  poorer  quarters  of  a  city 
where  educated  men  and  women  may  come  in 
daily  personal  contact  with  people.''  Fred- 
eric Denison  Maurice's  Working-men's  College, 
founded  in  1860;  Edward  Denison 's  attempt  to 
make  his  home  in  the  East  End  of  London  in 
1867 ;  Arnold  Toynbee  's  residence  in  Whitechapel 
with  the  Rev.  S.  A.  Barnett  of  St.  Jude's  in  1875, 
and  the  building  of  Toynbee  Hall  in  1885,  mark 
the  steps,  and  at  the  same  time  disclose  the  col- 
lege and  church  impulse,  that  led  to  the  rise  of 
university  settlements. 

In  1883  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  S.  Rainsford  be- 
came Rector  of  St.  George's  Church,  New  York. 
Before  taking  charge  of  the  parish  or  forming 
especial  plans  for  carrying  it  on,  he  had  a  survey 
made  of  the  neighborhood.  He  then  founded 
such  organizations  as  seemed  to  him  suitable  for 
meeting  the  racial,  local,  or  class  needs  of  his 
parish.  This  was  the  first  scientific  diagnosis  of 
parochial  work  that  I  am  aware  of,  and  it  devel- 
oped a  group  of  social  institutions  around  it  that 
gave  the  name  ''institutional  church"  to  St. 
George's,  and  to  the  large  number  of  parishes 
since  then  more  or  less  modeled  upon  it. 

The  essence  of  institutional  church  work  is 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  215 

home  extension.  It  undertakes  to  make  up  for 
the  poverty-stricken,  limited,  and  often  vicious 
surroundings  of  the  tenement-house  by  supervis- 
ing entertainment,  encouraging  education  and 
physical  culture, — in  fact,  by  doing  for  the  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  the  poor  what  a  well-to-do 
family  would  like  to  do  for  its  own. 

Afterward  came  the  social  settlements  which 
attempted  more  complete  co-operation  with  what- 
ever initiative  the  slums  themselves  disclosed. 
They  recognized  how  much  the  working-man  is 
trying  to  do  for  himself,  and  proifered  their  as- 
sistance. They  put  educated  and  friendly  energy 
into  existing  popular  institutions.  They  aided 
neighborhood  agencies,  school  boards,  health 
boards,  libraries,  the  use  of  parks,  labor  unions, 
advantageous  racial  customs,  etc. 

More  recently,  community  centers  have  organ- 
ized a  neighborhood  club  in  the  schoolhouse. 
Freed  from  racial,  religious,  and  political  antag- 
onism, the  schoolhouse,  because  a  patriotic  and 
neutral  institution,  is  their  rallying  place. 

They  have  created  a  self-governing  citizens' 
movement,  taking  in  not  only  grown-ups,  but 
young  people  of  both  sexes.  Games,  dancing, 
athletics,  evening  classes,  lectures,  political  ad- 
dresses, ** movies,*'  etc.,  are  provided.  Started  in 
Rochester,  New  York,  there  are  now  scores  of 
these  community  centers  in  the  United  States,  es- 
pecially in  the  West.  The  importance  of  the 
community  center  has  become  so  widely  under- 


216     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

stood  that  a  training  school  for  leaders  has  been 
established  in  New  York;  national  conferences 
have  been  held,  and  in  the  spring  of  1917  the  State 
of  New  York  ordered  school  boards  to  place 
schoolhouses  at  the  disposal  of  community  center 
groups  in  the  interests  of  Americanization. 

The  Open  Forum  as  Common  Ground 

The  Open  Forum  is  another  undertaking  to 
provide  a  common  meeting-place  for  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  free  from  traditional  impediments;  to 
bring  together  in  a  humane  atmosphere  the  ex- 
tremes of  society.  Like  the  agencies  we  have 
been  considering,  the  Open  Forum  bases  its  ac- 
tion not  upon  dogmas,  traditions,  or  precedents, 
but  upon  the  urgent  needs  of  the  present  and  an 
intelligent  view  of  the  future. 

Nietzsche  says:  **The  important  question  for 
you  is  not  where  did  you  come  from,  but  where  are 
you  going  r*  Walter  Lippmann  condenses  this 
into  his  maxim:  ** Substitute  purpose  for  tradi- 
tion." The  new  psychology  tells  us  that  **a 
philosophical  study  of  living  beings  shows  that 
they  may  be  graded  according  to  the  amount  of 
purpose  they  manifest.''  *  But  where  are  we  go- 
ing! What  should  be  our  purpose?  Is  it  not 
safe  to  say  (if  we  pay  attention  to  the  lessons  of 
industrial  evolution)  that  the  world  is  moving 
toward  a  greater  democracy,  toward  the  spread 

*  L.  E.  Emerson,  Psychoanalytic  Review,  October,  1915,  p.  425. 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  217 

of  freedom,  opportunity,  and  wealth — in  fact, 
toward  the  highest  development  for  the  largest 
number  of  human  beings  by  means  of  the  mate- 
rial and  spiritual  advantages  of  self-government? 

CooPEB  Union 

The  Open  Forum,  although  a  new  device  for 
amplifying  social  and  industrial  conditions,  has 
had  an  interesting  history:  The  People's  Insti- 
tute was  established  in  1897  and  offered  in 
Cooper  Union,  at  the  head  of  the  Bowery,  New 
York,  a  strategic  meeting-place  for  ideas  and 
men.  Charles  Sprague-Smith,  the  founder,  con- 
ceived the  plan  while  a  professor  of  comparative 
literature  in  Columbia.  He  discovered  in  litera- 
ture the  story  of  the  common  laws  of  social 
progress,  and  he  longed,  as  he  told  me,  to  get  his 
hands  directly  into  the  material  of  human  life. 
So  he  gave  up  comparative  literature  and  set 
about  arousing  enthusiasm  among  the  people  for 
a  freer,  fuller  existence. 

At  the  People's  Institute,  lecturers  of  wide 
reputation  addressed  East  Side  audiences  of 
thirty  nationalities.  The  audience  could  ask 
questions,  but  could  not  make  speeches.  The 
lecture  was  often  preceded  by  music  and  recita- 
tions, but  not  by  recognized  religious  exercises. 
Later  a  clubhouse  was  founded  and  many  valu- 
able forms  of  social  service  undertaken. 

The  invited  speakers,  under  the  grilling  of  an 


218     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

astute  and  well-read  democracy,  were  taught 
never  to  make  a  statement  which  they  could  not 
back  up;  they  also  learned  the  protective  value 
of  a  good  chairman  (Mr.  Sprague-Smith)  who 
would  not  permit  them  to  be  put  into  too  deep 
holes  by  the  audience,  although  he  could  not  pre- 
vent them  sometimes  from  jumping  in  them- 
selves to  their  own  chagrin,  and  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  their  tormentors.  Professor  Charles 
Sprague-Smith,  philologist,  poet,  educator  in 
good  will,  champion  of  the  people,  died  in  middle 
life  as  the  result  of  overwork  in  behalf  of  this 
great  undertaking.  The  Cooper  Union  meetings 
maintain  the  high  standards  set  by  him. 

The  Public  Forum 

The  '^Public  Forum  (Inc.)  of  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension"  was  founded  in  1907  by  the  Rector 
of  the  parish  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Irvine.  If 
crowds  will  listen  to  soap-box  orators  on  street 
corners;  if  workmen  in  factories  will  give  part 
of  their  precious  noon  recess  to  listen  to  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  speakers,  should  not  religious  bodies,  which 
control  more  good  auditoriums  than  anybody 
else,  and  have  less  use  for  them,  offer  hospi- 
tality in  their  churches  to  such  groups,  and  if 
necessary  organize  these  opportunities  under  fa- 
vorable conditions?  The  Public  Forum  under- 
took to  make  a  church  a  shelter  for  what  might 
otherwise   have   been    open-air   meetings    of   all 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  219 

sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  interested  in  dis- 
cussing modern  social  and  industrial  ideas.  It 
was  a  frank  attempt  by  a  church  to  find  out  what 
working-men,  according  to  their  own  showing, 
wanted,  and  what  they  considered  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  church.  The  Public  Forum  audience  may 
debate  the  subject  as  well  as  ask  questions. 

Since  the  founding  of  this  Forum,  numerous 
churches  in  New  York  and  the  neighborhood 
have  opened  similar  Forums — notably  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  Brooklyn,  of  which  the 
Eev.  J.  Howard  Melish  is  Rector;  the  Church 
of  the  Messiah,  where  the  Rev.  John  Haynes 
Holmes  is  Pastor,  and  the  Free  Synagogue,  under 
Dr.  Stephen  S.  Wise.  Even  as  far  away  as 
Houma,  Louisiana,  St.  Matthews  (Episcopal) 
Church  has  established  a  Forum.  There  is  also 
a  Forum  in  Starr  King^s  old  parish  (Unitarian) 
in  San  Francisco.  Church  Forums  received  the 
endorsement  of  the  Universalists  at  their  Chicago 
Convention  of  1914. 

Ford  Hall 

Ford  Hall,  on  Beacon  Hill,  Boston,  was  founded 
by  the  Baptist  Union  in  1908.  It  offers  a  plat- 
form of  a  broad  and  sympathetic  type,  it  pub- 
lishes a  paper  of  its  proceedings,  and  carries  on 
social  work.  It  permits  the  audience  to  question 
the  speaker,  but  it  does  not  invite  speaking  from 
the  audience.    The  Ford  Hall  meetings,  through 


220     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

their  extension  committees,  have  been  instru- 
mental in  establishing  in  New  England  munici- 
palities, towns,  and  schools  more  than  thirty 
Forums,  modeled  more  or  less  closely  upon  Ford 
Hall,  but  with  distinctive  undertakings  described 
by  the  specific  conditions  of  their  position.  Mr. 
George  Coleman,  who  is  responsible  for  Ford 
Hall,  has  exceptional  clearness  of  vision  and 
breadth  of  sympathy. 

Other  Forums 

The  Labor  Temple  was  opened  by  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Missions,  at  Second  Avenue  and 
Fourteenth  Street,  New  York,  in  an  old  building 
that  was  formerly  a  parish  church.  Owing  to  its 
situation  on  the  East  Side,  and  the  close  connec- 
tion between  its  founder,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Stelzle  and  the  trade-union  movement,  in  which 
he  thoroughly  believes,  and  also  because  it  spe- 
cializes in  labor  matters,  the  Labor  Temple 
has  developed  a  highly  unified  work,  now  in 
charge  of  Rev.  Jonathan  C.  Day,  and  keeps  very 
closely  in  touch  with  a  large  number  of  working- 
people. 

The  Labor  Forum  is  a  still  later  and  different 
type  of  Forum.  It  meets  in  a  public  school- 
house.  It  has  no  religious  exercises  or  motives, 
nor  is  it  neutral  (as  radicals  regard  the  Church 
Forums).  The  Labor  Forum  is  the  announced 
advocate  of  the  working-classes.    An  enthusiastic, 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  221 

devoted,  and  self-sacrificing  leader,  Mr.  Carl 
Beck,  is  responsible  for  its  origin  and  excellence. 

Schoolhouses  are  used  by  many  other  Forums, 
notably  by  the  Bronx  Open  Forum  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Honorable  Edward  Polak,  the 
Civic  Forum  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  vigorous  Fo- 
rums of  the  Brooklyn  People's  Institute. 

In  addition  to  Forums  which  use  the  English 
language,  there  are  Forums  that  use  Italian  and 
Russian — as  the  ^'Foro  Italiano,  a  Ford  Hall 
dirimpetto  la  State  House '*  in  Boston,  and  a  Rus- 
sian Forum  in  New  York. 

Another  type  of  Forum  is  **The  Hungry  Club*' 
of  Pittsburgh.  According  to  its  able  and  enthusi- 
astic Secretary,  Charles  C.  Cooper,  **The  Hungry 
Club"  is  the  only  organization  of  its  kind  in  the 
world.  **Its  membership  consists  of  several  hun- 
dred business  and  professional  men  who  *want  to 
know.'  It  has  no  constitution  nor  by-laws.  It 
has  no  formal  organization.  It  has  no  business 
sessions  and  no  regular  officials.  It  never  takes 
a  vote.  It  never  endorses  anything.  It  is  Pitts- 
burgh 's  Open  Forum  for  the  presentation  of  both 
sides  of  public  questions." 

The  Forum  has  proved  particularly  attractive 
to  recent  immigrants.  Its  democracy  corresponds 
to  their  native  ideal — an  ideal  too  often  destroyed 
by  their  early  experiences  in  their  adopted  coun- 
try. The  Forum  helps  them  to  some  discrimina- 
tion in  fixing  blame  for  their  ill-treatment;  it  of- 
fers them  a  mouthpiece  for  the  woes  they  ran 


222     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

away  from  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  and  for 
those  they  have  run  into  in  America. 

There  are  some  three  hundred  Open  Forums 
actually  in  operation;  as  many  more  groups  are 
seeking  organization.  Forums  have  been  con- 
sidered such  admirable  agencies  for  popular  edu- 
cation in  current  public  problems,  that  in  some 
States  where  constitutional  conventions  are  to  be 
held,  Forums  have  been  founded  as  preparatory 
schools  for  discussion  and  study  of  constitutional 
questions.  Indiana  has  more  than  a  hundred 
such  Forums.  Arkansas  is  likely  to  follow  this 
lead. 

The  Open  Forum  National  Council  has  offices  in 
Boston ;  it  maintains  a  speakers  ^  bureau  and  pub- 
lishes a  monthly  magazine — The  Community 
Forum, 

Some  fifty  of  the  Forums  in  and  around  New 
York  are  incorporated  as  The  Congress  of 
Forums,  which  forms  a  part  of  the  national 
organization. 

Breaking  the  Shackles  of  Silence 

In  spite  of  the  diverse  elements  which  make  up 
the  membership  of  an  Open  Forum,  it  would  be 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  is  a  Cave  of  Adul- 
1am,  made  up  of  malcontents,  *  *  down-and-outers, '  ^ 
and  blatherskites.  In  fact,  nothing  could  be  fur- 
ther from  the  truth. 

The  questions  asked  and  the  speeches  made 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  223 

from  the  audience  of  the  Public  Forum  give  sur- 
prising evidences  of  knowledge,  seriousness,  and 
ability. 

The  Forum  is  a  device  by  which  the  people  be- 
come articulate.  **  Silence  is  for  the  poor,'^  de- 
clared Lamennais,  the  French  priest,  who  labored 
for  the  freedom  of  the  working-classes  within 
the  Roman  Church,  and  was  driven  out  of  it. 
Any  institution  that  gives  voice  to  the  poor  is  an 
emancipator,  for  it  breaks  their  worst  shackle — 
silence.  The  cause  that  can  be  heard  is  in  a  way 
to  secure  its  ends.  A  people  that  is  articulate 
is  on  its  way  to  victory.  Open  Forums  offer,  as 
does  nothing  else  today,  an  opportunity  for  the 
poor  to  be  heard — a  timely  instrument  just  now 
when  free  speech  has  been  so  much  abridged  in 
public  places.  Dread  of  free  speech  has  come  to 
such  a  pass  that  the  hall  in  Paterson  which 
burned  down  after  Emma  Goldman  spoke  in  it 
was  considered  by  many  religious  people  to  have 
been  directly  destroyed  by  divine  wrath.  Our  na- 
tional optimism  inclines  us  to  avoid  serious  prob- 
lems ;  our  easy  material  progress  renders  us  for- 
getful of  underlying  difficulties.  We  are  irritated 
at  criticism  of  our  institutions.  We  club  and  jail 
unpleasant  prophets.  The  May  Day  Labor  Pa- 
rade in  1914  had  this  banner;  **You  may  jail  our 
leaders,  but  you  cannot  jail  our  ideas.'*  America 
must  offer  more  safety  valves  to  such  explosive 
truths,  to  such  suppression  and  injustice,  espe- 
cially when  assailed  by  the  new  slogan  of  Privi- 


224     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

lege:  **You  may  have  the  right,  but  we  have  the 
power.  * ' 

Much  of  the  present-day  labor  trouble  is 
caused  by  the  disappearance  of  the  old-fashioned 
employer  of  labor  who  was  successful  in  building 
up  a  business  because  he  knew  his  men  and  how 
to  treat  them.  The  absentee  employer  is  an  eco- 
nomic danger.  The  striker  is  in  revolt  against 
hidden  forces,  not  against  persons,  for  he  does 
not  know  them.  The  Open  Forum,  by  contriving 
a  better  acquaintance  between  classes,  helps  this 
situation.  One  violent  radical  told  me  that  he 
learned  in  the  Public  Forum  that  capitalists  were 
human. 

The  Open  Forum  Combines  the  Unr^ersity  and 
THE  Town  Meeting 

A  Public  Forum  unites  the  university  with  the 
town  meeting.  An  expert  is  called  in  to  lead  the 
conferences;  then  the  people  thrash  out  the  sub- 
ject in  open  debate.  The  Forum  is  giving  back 
to  America  the  town  meeting  which  the  growth  of 
cities  has  robbed  it  of. 

A  defect  of  democracy  is  its  distrust  and 
neglect  of  the  expert,  and  its  substitution  of  the 
grandiose  notion  that  one  man  is  as  good  as 
another,  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  state.  In 
America  this  disposition,  at  once  ignorant  and  in- 
jurious to  democratic  institutions,  was  fostered 
by  the  pioneer  life  in  colonial  America,  which  was 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  225 

so  simple  in  its  requirements  as  to  be  satisfied  by 
the  rough-hewn  ability  and  independence  of  indi- 
viduals; and  later,  by  its  agricultural  pursuits 
which  did  not  permit  the  holder  of  the  plow  to 
leave  his  fields  indefinitely  for  legislative  and  po- 
litical service.  Today,  with  quite  a  different  order 
of  society,  the  traditions  of  these  earlier  periods 
have  persisted,  especially  among  politicians,  in 
the  face  of  the  growing  need  of  experts  and  in 
the  face  of  the  great  scientific  and  mechanical 
developments  of  our  time. 

Democracy  must  become  used  to  experts,  must 
desire  them,  and  enthusiastically  place  them  in 
commanding  positions.  I  know  of  no  better 
place  to  cure  this  shyness  of  the  people  toward 
specially  trained  ability  than  the  Forum  plat- 
form, where  the  expert  can  not  only  instruct  his 
audience  on  a  specially  selected  subject  of  cur- 
rent importance,  but  will  patiently  and  good- 
naturedly  answer  scores  of  questions,  will  listen 
to  a  public  discussion  by  the  audience,  and  in  a 
friendly  and  wise  way  sum  up  what  has  been  said. 

Perhaps  the  Forum  is  a  better  fashion  of  pre- 
senting the  university  to  the  people  than  is  the 
so-called  university  extension  movement,  which 
too  largely  deals  with  purely  cultural  subjects  and 
depends  for  its  speakers  upon  professional 
teachers  and  lecturers.  The  Forum  chooses  cur- 
rent subjects  of  importance,  and  gravitates  to 
** burning  questions'';  it  then  selects  the  most 
distinguished  expert  upon  the  topic  whose  serv- 


226     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

ices  (generally  gratuitous)  it  can  command,  and 
this  often  involves  going  far  afield  from  academic 
reputations,  who  is  then  brought  to  an  eager  audi- 
ence already  schooled  in  the  technique  of  social 
and  economic  literature. 

At  a  time  when  the  town  meeting,  which  accord- 
ing to  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  the  school  of 
our  early  democracy,  has  fallen  into  disuse  owing 
to  the  greatly  increased  number  of  our  popula- 
tion living  under  city  charters,  the  creation  of  a 
body  of  persons,  rich  and  poor,  educated  and  un- 
educated, holding  all  manner  of  political  views — 
brought  together  for  the  discussion  of  important 
problems,  is  returning  one  of  the  best  elements  of 
democracy  to  wide  and  frequent  use. 

Open  Forums  are  not  only  harmonizers  and 
educators  of  classes  into  a  truer  social  unity. 
Their  practical  accomplishment  also  may  be 
valuable.  This  is  important  to  observe,  because 
critics  of  Open  Forums  rarely  notice  the  inevi- 
table demand  of  Forum  audiences  for  emotional 
relief,  not  in  talk  alone,  but  in  beneficent  social 
activity.  They  pass  resolutions,  send  memor- 
ials, appoint  committees,  and  carry  on  humane 
works. 

An  officer  of  the  Public  Forum  (Inc.)  led  to  Al- 
bany the  committee  whose  labors  resulted  in  the 
appointment  of  the  New  York  Factory  Commis- 
sion and  consequent  legislation.  The  Public 
Forum  organized  the  first  democratically  run  com- 
munity center  in  New  York. 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  227 

The  Prison  Committee  of  the  Public  Forum 
brought  to  the  attention  of  officials  abuses  in  the 
Penitentiary  and  Workhouse,  which  are  in  proc- 
ess of  being  remedied. 

The  Legal  Committee  provided  volunteer 
counsel  in  the  Woman's  Night  Court  for  defend- 
ants too  poor  or  too  ignorant  to  secure  it  for 
themselves. 

The  Relief  Bureau  offered  a  daily  ministry  to 
prisoners — especially  women — discharged  from 
BlackwelPs  Island. 

The  Employment  Bureau  for  nearly  two  years 
was  a  valuable  neighborhood  contribution.  For 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1917,  it  secured  for  its 
applicants  1,900  situations. 

Why  Tie  up  a  Forum  with  Religion? 

A  question  I  frequently  hear  is :  Why  have  the 
Open  Forums  (good  enough  things  in  themselves, 
no  doubt)  been  conducted  in  consecrated  churches 
and  church  buildings?  What  has  religion  to  do 
with  economics?  In  spite  of  an  imposing  list  of 
advantages,  why  tie  up  this  new  undertaking  to 
religion;  why  call  meetings  at  which  economics 
are  talked  in  churches;  why  hold  these  on  Sun- 
days? 

Economics  are  teaching  the  Church  of  today  so 
much  that  the  Church  may  well  show  some  appre- 
ciation. In  fact,  if  economics  can  inspire  reli- 
gion, then  there  is  a  natural  relationship  between 


228    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

them.  The  present  humanizing  of  the  dismal 
science  is  giving  new  faith  to  the  Church.  The 
brotherliness  of  international  labor  unions  and  of 
Socialism  is  helping  the  Church  to  recover  the 
vision  of  a  world  of  peace  and  good  will.  The 
multiplication  of  food  and  clothing — their  easy 
preservation  and  transportation — are  leading  the 
Church  to  believe  that  poverty  can  be  abolished. 
The  organization  of  vast  numbers  in  effective 
labor  point  to  new  unity  and  effectiveness  among 
the  devout.  The  loyalty  and  self-sacrifice  of  the 
working-people  for  each  other  is  a  new  Pentecost 
— a  new  outpouring  of  spiritual  energy  which 
speaks  in  strange  tongues,  but  tells  of  holy  things. 
In  spite  of  the  temporary  recessions  of  the  war, 
these  movements  are  today  the  brightest  encour- 
agements to  humanity. 

A  better  understanding  between  the  rich 
and  poor  is  a  moral  as  well  as  an  economic 
question. 

The  rich  must  perceive  how  unfair  it  is  for 
them  to  waste  human  labor  in  frivolous  amuse- 
ment, unnecessary  possessions,  and  injurious  con- 
sumption. Short  of  the  winnings  of  roulette, 
some  American  business  men  seem  to  think  one 
dollar  is  as  good-looking  and  respectable  as 
another.  Why  should  workmen  worry  then  be- 
cause they  expect  pay  without  giving  good  work 
or  full  time  ?  If  they  could  get  the  dollar  for  ab- 
solute incompetence  and  for  no  work  at  all,  they 
would  only  be  securing  what  political  jobs,  corpo- 


MENTAL  ADJUSTMENT  229 

ration  salaries,  speculative  pools,  very  often  pro- 
vide for  their  favorites — pay  for  no  equivalent. 
There  is  no  more  profoundly  moral  question  than 
what  a  man  does  for  his  income  and  with  his  in- 
come. The  relation  between  income  and  service 
must  become  one  of  the  great  themes  of  religion. 


XI 


THE  ECONOMIC  INFLUENCE  OF 
RELIGION 


"The  sooner  we  think  straight  we  shall  will  straight." 

Henry  H.  Goddard, 
Feeble-Mindedness :  Its  Causes  and  Consequences,  p.  407. 

"The  ultimate  value  of  every  institution  is  the  distinctively 
human  effect — its  effect  upon  conscious  expression." 

John  Dewey, 
Education  and  Democracy,  p.  8. 

"  With  science,  the  old  theology  of  the  East,  long  in  its  dotage, 
begins  evidently  to  die  and  disappear.  But  (to  my  mind) 
science — and  maybe  such  will  prove  its  principal  service — as 
evidently  prepares  the  way  for  One  indescribably  grander — 
Timers  young  but  perfect  offspring — the  new  theology — heir  of 
the  West — lusty  and  loving,  and  wondrous  beautiful." 

Walt  Whitman, 

quoted  by  John  Addington  Symonds  in 

Walt  Whitman:  A  Study,  p.  142. 

"Where  wants  and  needs  coincide  economic  and  moral  values 
are  identical." 

Prof.  T.  D.  Carver, 
Religion  and  Social  Justice,  p.  36. 

"Character  is  the  result  of  longevity,  health,  income,  and 
knowledge,  not  of  particular  biologic  traits." 

"  Service,  conformity  to  natural  law,  and  growth  are  the  basic 
ideas  of  true  civilization." 

Prof.  Simon  N.  Patten, 
Culture  and  War. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ECONOMIC  INFLUENCE  OF 
RELIGION 

CAN  religion  help  the  working-classes?  The 
radical  unhesitatingly  replies:  **No!'*  In 
the  socialist  movement  the  workers  derive  from 
its  founders  a  tradition  of  atheism.  Besides  this 
tradition,  still  influential,  socialism  preaches  the 
materialistic  interpretation  of  history. 

Beyond  these  two  arguments  for  the  unpopu- 
larity of  religion  among  working-people  there  are 
others  less  theoretical.  The  priesthood  in  social 
evolution  has  been  associated  with  the  military  and 
governmental  class  as  its  supporter  and  de- 
pendent. Today  it  is  believed  to  stand  in  the 
same  relation  of  support  and  dependence  to  the 
capitalistic  class.  For  example,  working-people 
complain  that  the  pulpit  preaches  only  what  capi- 
talism approves.  Further  than  this,  working-peo- 
ple see  plainly  enough  that  the  conspicuous  tenets 
of  the  prevailing  religions — as,  for  instance,  the 
Golden  Rule:  *<Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that 
they  should  do  unto  you ' ' — are  flatly  contradicted 
by  the  business  maxims  of  those  who  profess  great 
respect  for  religion ;  for  example.  Caveat  emptor, 
Let  the  buyer  look  out  for  himself.     In  brief, 

333 


234     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

working-class  radicalism  defines  religion  as  belief 
in  the  supernatural  and  regards  churches  as  part- 
ners of  capitalists;  so  radicalism  is  confident  of 
religion's  doom. 

**  Devout  observances  are  of  economic  impor- 
tance, ' '  Veblen  rather  heavily  puts  it,  *  *  as  an  index 
of  a  concomitant  variation  of  temperament,  accom- 
panying the  predatory  habit  of  mind  and  so  indi- 
cating the  presence  of  industrially  disserviceable 
traits/'  He  illustrates  this  disservice  by  the 
waste  of  priestly  service,  education,  pilgrimages, 
fasts,  holidays,  etc.  He  confirms  it  by  a  theory 
that  the  attitude  of  attention  to  preternatural 
allies  is  treason  to  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect ; 
or  as  our  psychological  friends  would  say,  the 
clergy  live  in  fantasy,  not  in  reality,  and  so  are 
an  economic  dead  weight. 

The  points  that  labor  makes  against  religion 
are  well  founded;  but  they  are  indictments  of  re- 
ligion in  its  most  institutionalized  form ;  they  are 
criticisms  of  organized  religion  at  its  worst.  That 
is  to  say,  radicalism  confuses  religion  with  the 
Church,  and  considers  the  religion  of  all  time  the 
same. 

The  modem  working-man  in  his  exasperation 
at  exclusion  from  social  and  industrial  influence, 
has  seen  in  the  religion  of  the  conservative  classes 
not  only  a  foe  but  a  lie,  deliberately  fabricated  for 
his  enslavement.  Although  Plato  did  suggest 
that  rulers  might  govern  by  appeal  to  **the  mag- 
nificent lie ' '  of  an  authorized  religion ;  yet  modern 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     235 

science  and  modern  economics  assign  religion  its 
true  place — something  produced  by  man  for  him- 
self,— for  his  help  and  betterment. 

Dr.  W.  A.  White,  of  Washington,  a  leading 
authority  on  psychoanalysis,  assigns  high  value 
even  to  early  religions. 

**He  (the  primitive  man)  used  the  methods  of 
magic.  No  matter  how  ineffectual  they  were, 
however,  no  matter  how  simple  and  childlike, 
nevertheless  we  see  in  these  methods  the  germs  of 
our  present-day  science.  Primitive  man  did  the 
best  he  could,  his  means  were  crude,  but  he  kept 
on  trying — he  was  on  the  right  path. ' '  * 

Professor  Simon  N.  Patten  points  out  the  im- 
perative social  value  of  religion: 

**  Degeneration,  regeneration,  and  the  will  are 
thus  religion's  first  problems,  from  which  all 
others  are  derived.  When  religion  emphasizes 
degeneration  as  a  starting-point,  its  position  as- 
sumes both  a  scientific  and  a  pragmatic  quality. 
The  subnormal — below  us — is  to  be  avoided;  the 
supernormal — above  us — is  to  be  striven  for.  Re- 
ligion voices  our  opposition  to  the  one  and  our 
aspiration  for  the  other.  So  long  as  men  hope 
to  be  better  and  fear  to  become  worse,  religion 
cannot  die  out.  It  cures  degeneration  through 
the  development  of  character. ' '  f 

Religion  has  enormously  helped  the  productive 
powers  of  labor.    In  some  of  the  early  stages  of 


» (( 


Mechanisms  of  Character  Formation,"  p.  45. 
t "  The  New  Basis  of  Civilization,"  p.  43. 


236     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

religion  its  use  was  so  largely  to  protect  man- 
kind from  all  sorts  of  fears  that  it  could  be  called 
a  method  of  posting  sentinels,  to  guard  man  from 
the  injury  and  unabated  terrors  of  the  unknown. 
Primitive  man 's  ignorance  of  the  powers  of  nature 
and  his  ascription  of  evil  influences  to  the  spirit- 
ual beings  he  fancied  behind  nature,  would  have 
overwhelmed  him,  had  his  religion  not  offered 
means  by  which  he  could  feel  that  he  was  in  the 
good  grace  of  the  injurious  spiritual  powers,  and 
so  go  about  his  business  with  some  peace  of  mind. 
Religion  built  a  crude  stockade  around  primitive 
man  to  protect  him  from  fear  of  the  universe.  In 
a  very  real  and  concrete  fashion  religion  was  the 
salvation  of  the  worker  and  his  work,  whether  his 
labor  was  in  war,  or  in  hunting,  or  in  making 
weapons,  or  in  the  delegated  drudgeries  per- 
formed by  the  women  of  the  tribe.  Let  us  at  any 
rate  be  pragmatists,  willing  to  say  a  good  word 
for  what  has  helped  us,  even  if  we  are  not  clear 
about  its  rational  foundation. 

Specifically,  it  must  be  replied  to  labor's  ma- 
terialistic interpretation  of  history,  that  moral 
idealism  is  constantly  modifying  social  conditions 
even  if  underlying  all  social  movement  the  funda- 
mental motives  are  economic.  In  the  present  war, 
for  example,  the  fundamental  motives  are  eco- 
nomic, but  thousands  of  men  and  women  are  vol- 
unteering their  services  in  the  army,  on  ambu- 
lances, in  hospitals,  and  relief  work,  the  sum  and 
quality  of  whose  labors,  born  of  their  fine  enthusi- 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     237 

asm,  may  win  the  day  and  be  the  moral  agents  of 
new  economic  ideas  and  conditions. 

Does  the  Church  affect  economics  at  all?  On 
the  contrary,  isn't  it  economics  that  affect  the 
Church?  Back  of  this  question  is  the  theory  of 
the  economic  interpretation  of  history,  which 
claims  that  the  struggle  for  food  underlies  every- 
thing else,  and  that  any  higher  cultural  or  spirit- 
ual force  in  the  world  can  be  analyzed  back  to 
some  economic  need  and  effort.  There  are  econo- 
mists today  who  claim  that  the  present  war  is 
due  to  the  geography  of  the  land  lying  between 
the  Rhine  and  the  Baltic.  These  are  extremists. 
Both  forces,  economic  forces  and  so-called  moral 
forces,  are  influential. 

Religion  affects  economics  and  economics  affect 
religion.  No  one  can  deny  that  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  the  primal  instinct.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion but  that  the  first  activities  of  mankind  are  for 
food.  Religion  is  not  a  primary  impulse;  it  is 
a  secondary  and  contributory  impulse.  That  does 
not  mean  that  religion  has  not  a  direct  influence 
upon  economic  affairs. 

"Human  life  (says  Professor  Seligman)  has  thus  far 
not  been  exempt  from  the  inexorable  law  of  nature, 
with  its  struggle  for  existence  through  natural  selection. 
This  struggle  has  assumed  three  forms.  We  find  first 
the  original  struggle  of  group  with  group,  which  in 
modern  times  has  become  the  contest  of  people  with  peo- 
ple, of  nation  with  nation.    Secondly,  with  the  differ  en- 


238     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

tiation  of  population  there  came  the  rivalry  of  class 
with  class ;  first,  of  the  sacerdotal  with  the  military  and 
the  industrial  class;  later,  of  the  moneyed  interest  with 
the  landed  interest;  still  later,  of  the  labor  class  with 
one  or  all  of  the  capitalist  classes.  Thirdly,  we  find 
within  each  class  the  competition  of  the  individuals  to 
gain  the  mastery  in  the  class.  These  three  forms  of  con- 
flict are  in  the  last  resort  all  due  to  the  pressure  of  life 
upon  the  means  of  subsistence;  individual  competition, 
class  competition,  and  race  competition  are  all  referable 
to  the  niggardliness  of  nature,  to  the  inequality  of 
human  gifts,  to  the  indifference  of  social  opportunity. 
Civilization,  indeed,  consists  in  the  attempt  to  minimize 
the  evils  while  conserving  the  benefits  of  this  hitherto 
inevitable  conflict  between  material  resources  and  human 
desires.  As  long,  however,  as  this  conflict  endures,  the 
primary  explanation  of  human  life  must  continue  to  be 
the  economic  explanation — the  explanation  of  the  ad- 
justment of  material  resources  to  human  desires.  This 
adjustment  may  be  modified  by  esthetic,  religious,  and 
moral,  in  short,  by  intellectual  and  spiritual  forces ;  but 
in  the  last  resort  it  still  remains  an  adjustment  of  life 
to  the  wherewithal  of  life.'** 

**The  most  material  elements,"  says  Professor 
Harnack,  **  acting  upon  man  always  produce  feel- 
ings and  ideas  which  themselves  act  as  forces  in 
their  turn,  and  stand  in  no  simple  proportionate 
relation  to  those  material  causes.  Moreover,  as 
long  as  men  continue  to  sacrifice  their  possessions, 
their  blood,  and  their  life  for  ideal  aims,  it  will 

*  "  The  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,"  E.  R.  A.  Seligman, 
p.  164. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     239 

be  impossible  for  any  one  to  maintain  the  mate- 
rialistic view  of  history  except  with  the  help  of 
sophisms.'* 

In  Roman  Law  jus  naturale,  which  modified 
many  conditions  of  humanity,  was  directly  trace- 
able to  Seneca  and  Stoic  philosophy.  I  believe  it 
will  be  found  that  the  new  **  common  sense '*  eco- 
nomics of  today  owe  much  of  their  origin  to  the 
insistent  representations  of  religion  in  behalf  of 
the  working-classes. 

Thorold  Rogers  holds  that  religious  movements 
have  had  social  effects  under  two  heads.  In  the 
first  place  the  efforts  of  the  missionary  must  needs 
be  directed  to  the  material  as  well  as  the  moral 
amelioration  of  the  persons  or  subjects  which  are 
to  be  the  subject  of  the  mission.  This  is  the  secret 
of  the  success  which  attended  the  teachings  of 
Zoroaster  and  Buddha,  of  early  Christianity  and 
early  Islam.  They  take  advantage  of  existing 
discontent  and  preach  freedom,  the  loosening  of 
chains,  the  opening  of  prisons,  and  the  natural 
equality  of  man,  the  manifest  duty  of  the  secular 
ruler. 

The  next  fact  is,  that  it  is  vain  to  attempt  in 
social  revolution  a  material  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  those  whom  the  teacher  approaches 
except  in  times  when  prosperity  or  at  least  some 
degree  of  comfort  is  general.  The  forces  of  so- 
ciety make  short  and  easy  work  of  the  outbreaks 
which  despair  occasionally  instigates.  The  insur- 
rection of  the  Jacquerie  in  France  in  the  four- 


240     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

teenth  century,  of  the  peasants  in  Germany  in  the 
sixteenth,  were  futile  struggles,  full  of  ferocity 
and  reprisals,  but  were  completely  repressed,  the 
peasants  sinking  back  into  greater  misery  than 
that  which  they  strove  to  shake  off.* 

All  these  authorities  attach  importance  to  the 
economic  interpretation  of  history,  but  they  see 
that  the  spiritual  and  intellectual,  in  their  turn, 
affect  the  conditions  of  life. 


Religion  and  Economics  in  the  Old  Testament 

The  relation  of  religion  to  economics  was  nat- 
ural among  the  old  races  and  nations.  Among 
the  Jews  religion  and  politics  were  identical  and 
formed  the  theocratic  government.  The  orig- 
inal idea  of  justice  among  the  Hebrews  came  from 
their  desert  life  and  their  nomadic  organizations. 
This  was  an  idea  of  brotherhood  natural  and  easy 
in  the  patriarchal  unit  of  a  pastoral  group.  The 
social  struggle  that  goes  on  through  the  Old  Tes- 
tament is  the  inevitable  conflict  of  nomads  with 
the  people  in  the  cities.  The  conflict  of  Jehovah 
and  Baal  was  a  conflict  between  the  freeman  and 
the  slave.  That  is  to  say,  it  was  an  economical 
conflict. 

Old  Testament  ** righteousness"  was  largely 
what  we  call  ** social  justice.'*  Land  monopoly, 
usury,  low  wages,  cheating  of  widows — these  were 

*  Compare  Thorold  Rogers,  "  Economic  Interpretation  of  His- 
tory," Chapter  IV. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION    241 

branded  by  the  prophets.  This  Old  Testament 
righteousness  was  the  law  Jesns  said  must  be 
fulfilled — every  jot  and  tittle  of  it.  The  return 
of  land,  the  cancellation  of  debt,  and  freeing  cap- 
tives in  the  jubilee  year,  was  a  piece  of  oriental 
communism ;  it  found  no  sympathy  in  the  Roman 
law  of  ownership,  although  it  constantly  asserted 
itself  inside  the  Romanized  Christian  Church. 

Early  Christian  Influence 

Among  Christians  there  should  be  no  question 
about  the  economic  influence  of  the  Church.  The 
Church  was  meant  to  be  an  economic  establish- 
ment and  if  it  has  not  fulfilled  that  idea  it  has 
never  been  without  living  testimony  to  it.  Not 
only  was  the  first  Church  communistic — the  shar- 
ing of  worldly  possessions — but  the  Jewish  pic- 
ture of  a  righteous  community  which  exhibited 
economic  justice  went  over  into  Christianity  with 
a  profounder  personal  pity  and  sympathy  for 
misery  and  with  the  Cross  as  a  symbol. 

''The  communism  attempted  in  the  apostolic  Church 
was  continued  in  the  traditions  of  the  early  and 
medieval  Church,  as  the  ideal  form  of  Christian  society. 
The  Christian  fathers  of  the  first  three  or  four  centuries 
were  full  of  the  new  social  ideals. ' '  * 

Until  the  eleventh  century  the  early  com- 
munistic conception  of  the  Church  was  regarded 

*  Sidgwick's  "  History  of  Ethics,"  quoted  by  Conrad  Noel,  to 
"  Socialism  and  Church  History,"  p.  103. 


242     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

as  its  social  ideal.  The  catalogue  of  the  fathers 
who  supported  such  a  conception  is  long.  Basil, 
Clement,  Ambrose,  Isidore,  Zeno,  Chrysostom, 
Tertullian.  Nor  did  it  fade  away  under  the  better 
industrial  circumstances  of  the  Renaissance. 
There  was  a  strong  socializing  tendency  in  the 
Church,  even  just  before  the  Reformation. 

Modern  political  economy  found,  perhaps,  its 
earliest  exponents  in  medieval  canonists, — eccle- 
siastics who  had  given  themselves  to  the  study  of 
law.  The  economic  doctrines  which  they  put  out 
and  which  were  accepted  by  the  times  were 
*^ Christian''  in  the  sense  that  they  were  especially 
considerate  of  the  weak. 

Profits  and  wages,  for  instance,  were  not  to  be 
higher  than  permitted  the  recipient  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  requirements  of  his  position — ^his  status. 
Although  there  were  class  differences,  which  would 
seem  to  give  permanence  to  inequalities,  yet,  on 
the  whole,  this  adjudication  of  the  canonists  made 
for  temporary  standards  of  acquisition. 

Economic  Value  op  Monasticism 

The  early  monastic  systems  were  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  spread  of  economic  efficiency.  They 
not  only  were  communistic  groups  which  had  the 
advantage  of  organization  in  production,  but  they 
became  the  centers  for  the  teaching  of  agricul- 
ture and  simpler  industries  to  the  population 
around  them.   Economic  values  so  surely  attended 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     243 

monastic  organization,  where  properly  managed, 
that  the  monks  as  a  society  were  unable  to  fulfill 
their  vows  of  poverty;  their  co-operation,  thrift, 
and  knowledge  made  them  rich.  Here  was  a  direct 
economic  power  exerted  by  the  Church. 

This  power  was  again  shown  when  the  monastic 
orders  became  missionary  forces.  They  became 
the  agricultural  colleges  and  trade  schools  of 
northern  Europe.  Our  own  modern  missionary 
program  has  done  the  same  thing;  our  mission- 
aries have  taught  innumerable  economic  meth- 
ods to  the  peoples  to  whom  they  were  sent.  In 
the  history  of  Christian  missions,  it  is  easy  to 
note  how  the  conception  of  the  gospel  as  a  plan 
of  soul  salvation,  depending  upon  belief,  creed, 
and  baptism,  gave  place  to  a  conception  of  mis- 
sionary activity  which  was  educational  not  only 
in  agriculture  and  craftsmanship,  but  in  litera- 
ture and  social  institutions. 

When  I  was  in  the  East  there  was  a  good  deal 
being  said  about  trade  following  the  flag.  I  found, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  trade  did  not  follow  the 
flag,  but  trade  followed  the  missionary.  The  mis- 
sionaries went  into  Burma  and  found  that  the 
Burmese  people  had  rheumatism  from  sleeping  on 
the  ground,  or  that  they  were  troubled  by  the  bite 
of  insects.  The  missionaries  sent  for  Perry 
Davis's  Pain  Killer;  from  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  there  were  great  shipments  of  this  lini- 
ment. The  missionaries  found  the  Indian  women 
painfully  at  their  hand  looms  making  the  cloth 


244     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

out  of  which  their  garments  were  fashioned,  and 
they  immediately  imported  calico  and  Singer  sew- 
ing machines,  which  freed  their  labor  for  other 
perhaps  higher  things.  Article  after  article,  eco- 
nomic method  after  economic  method,  can  be 
directly  traced  to  missionaries  who  went  to  less 
civilized  people  and  who  wished  to  give  them  the 
economic  fruits  of  civilization. 

In  the  middle  ages  the  Franciscan  order  was 
born  out  of  economic  conditions.  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi,  horrified  by  the  disparity  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  organized  a  brotherhood  whose 
primal  vow  was  poverty,  in  order  to  make  his 
great  personal  protest  against  the  economic  con- 
ditions of  the  time.  In  fact,  it  was  the  antago- 
nism of  this  order  to  the  wealthy  classes  that  made 
it  difficult  for  the  papal  authorities  for  a  long 
time  to  give  countenance  to  the  Franciscans. 

What  Is  the  Church  Doing  Today? 

The  Church  is  the  modern  institution  that  has 
tried  to  correct  the  largest  number  of  social  mal- 
adjustments. It  has  supplemented  our  elemen- 
tary public  school  education,  which  is  all  that  nine- 
tenths  of  our  people  receive,  by  mercantile,  tech- 
nical, and  industrial  education  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
parish  trade  schools.  It  has  tried  to  make  up  for 
the  poverty  of  tenement  house  life  by  building 
parish  houses  in  which  social  and  recreational 
opportunities  on  a  large  scale  have  been  offered 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     245 

the  children  of  the  shims.  It  has  organized  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A. — a  great  fraternity  of  young  men, 
with  social  advantages.  It  has  supplied  gym- 
nasiums and  athletic  clubs  to  mitigate  destructive 
physical  environment  of  the  poor.  It  has  brought 
the  tenement  child  and  its  poor  mother  to  the  coun- 
try and  to  the  seashore,  placing  them  in  ample 
houses.  It  has  supplied,  in  day-nurseries,  medi- 
cal attendance  and  nursing  for  the  care  of  babies 
and  small  children,  whose  mothers  are  forced  to 
work.  It  has  supplied  sewing  and  other  means 
of  income  for  old  women  who  are  past  the  ages  of 
successful  business  competition  and  yet  love  their 
**own  home."  It  has  provided  schemes  of  co- 
operative buying — a  large  saving  to  wage-earners. 
It  is  now  supplying  in  its  forums  a  platform  for 
studying  the  labor  question — a  meeting-place  for 
ideas  and  classes.  It  has  built  the  best  hospitals, 
the  best  homes  for  orphans  and  for  the  aged.  In 
short,  the  Church  has  tried — unfortunately,  in  a 
broken  and  unco-ordinated  fashion,  because  it  is 
not  itself  a  unity — to  supply  the  social  deficien- 
cies of  our  modern  state.  It  has  had  a  vision  of 
living  unity  in  spite  of  its  theological  schism  and 
denominational  discord.  Indeed,  the  remarkable 
thing  to  observe  is  that  the  most  broken  side  of 
the  Church,  Protestantism,  has  displayed  in  the 
last  century  in  England  and  America  more  sense 
of  social  solidarity  than  the  Catholic  Church, 
which  in  the  middle  ages  stood  for  socialization. 


246     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

**Many  members  of  the  Church  of  England  are  Social- 
ists, and  would  establish  a  commonwealth  whose  people 
should  own  the  land  and  the  industrial  capital  and 
administer  them  co-operatively  for  the  good  of  all.  Such 
public  ownership  they  regard  as  urgent,  and  as  a  neces- 
sary deduction  from  the  teachings  of  the  Church.  They 
are  not  communists  but  socialists.  Far  from  seeking  the 
abolition  of  private  property  or  the  curtailment  of  per- 
sonal freedom,  they  desire  such  an  industrial  rearrange- 
ment of  society  as  shall  not  only  increase  the  national 
output  but  shall  secure  to  the  majority  the  wealth  they 
produce  and  the  liberty  they  have  hitherto  been  denied. 

*'The  Christian  faith  cannot  be  summed  up  in  the 
word  socialism,  nor  should  it  be  finally  identified  with 
any  political  or  economic  system.  For  all  this,  church- 
men are  convinced  that  the  principles  which  underlie 
socialism  are,  so  far  as  they  go,  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  as  applied  to  political,  commercial, 
and  industrial  problems.''* 


In  America  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches, 
an  organization  of  a  number  of  Protestant 
churches,  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  advo- 
cating economic  programs  for  the  people's  advan- 
tage. In  New  York  the  Federation  of  Churches 
has  a  similar  but  more  limited  object.  Certain 
churches  see  the  danger  of  alliance  with  the  con- 
servative and  exploiting  classes  and  are  making 
efforts  to  be  of  specific  assistance  in  abolishing 
poverty  and  misery  and  in  securing  the  economic 
independence  of  the  working-classes. 

*  Conrad  Noel,  "  Socialism  and  Church  History,"  p.  7. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     247 

The  Salvation  Army  is  an  economic  force 
transforming  down-and-outers  into  productive 
citizens,  with  all  kinds  of  economic  machinery  in 
the  city  and  in  the  country. 

There  is  today  a  new  social  efficiency  coming 
into  the  Protestant  churches  of  the  West.  Mr. 
Robert  Bruere  has  made  a  survey  of  Protestant 
church  conditions  in  rural  communities,  particu- 
larly in  Virginia  and  in  the  Middle  West.  The 
future  of  the  country  church,  he  declares,  de- 
pends upon  its  dealing  with  economic  and  social 
questions  which  affect  the  people.  The  response 
made  in  Virginia  and  Iowa  to  this  new  attitude 
is  surprising.  Churches  that  had  been  dead  came 
to  life  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  the 
community  by  taking  up  economic  questions  of 
interest  to  the  community. 

There  is  a  picture  of  a  church  in  the  World's 
WorJc,  December,  1913,  underneath  which  is  writ- 
ten: ** Church  Facilities  as  a  Farmer's  Invest- 
ment.'' The  proprietors  of  Ravenswood  Farm, 
in  their  efforts  to  solve  the  labor  problem  in  cen- 
tral Missouri,  helped  build  this  church  and  they 
have  got  their  money  back  in  efficient  service.  So 
there  is  an  effort  in  the  West  to  use  the  church  as 
an  economic  power  and  it  is  found  to  possess  eco- 
nomic power. 

Then,  for  the  East,  a  book  by  Gill  and  Pinchot 
has  been  recently  published,  giving  a  survey  of 
the  condition  of  country  churches  in  New  Eng- 
land. 


248     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

**A  country  community  in  Vermont  had  been  with- 
out a  church  for  more  than  twenty  years.  When  Mr. 
Gill  came  to  it,  the  moral  and  social  laxity  of  the  whole 
community  was  flagrant.  Disbelief  in  the  existence  of 
goodness  appeared  to  be  common,  public  disapproval  of 
indecency  was  timid  or  lacking,  and  religion  was  in  gen- 
eral disrepute.  Not  only  was  there  no  day  of  worship, 
but  also  no  day  of  rest.  Life  was  mean,  hard,  small, 
selfish.  Land  belonging  to  the  town  was  openly  pillaged 
by  the  public  officers  who  held  it  in  trust;  real  estate 
values  were  low  and  among  the  respectable  families  there 
was  a  general  desire  to  sell  their  property  and  move 
away. 

**Then  the  Church  was  organized.  The  change  which 
followed  was  swift,  striking,  thorough,  and  enduring. 
The  public  property  of  the  town,  once  a  source  of  graft 
and  demoralization,  became  a  public  asset;  the  value  of 
real  estate  increased  beyond  all  proportion  to  the  gen- 
eral rise  of  land  values  elsewhere.  In  the  decade  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  Church  began  to  work,  boys  and 
girls  of  a  new  type  have  been  brought  up ;  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  village  has  been  changed  from  bad  to  good. ' ' 

When  religion  is  seen  to  be  a  biological  product 
resulting  from  human  need,  its  economic  influ- 
ence does  not  require  defense.  Religion  met 
human  need,  otherwise  it  would  have  perished. 
As  the  most  fundamental  need  of  man  was  food 
and  a  return  for  his  labor,  his  religion  never 
could  have  militated  against  those  results.  Re- 
ligion today  is  of  many  kinds;  to  criticize  an 
early  form  of  religion  from  a  later  industrial 
level  is  useless.    Mr.  Billy  Sunday  does  a  great 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     249 

deal  of  good;  he  makes  happier  homes  and 
quieter  working-people,  but  his  theology  is  ar- 
chaic. Yet  even  he  has  economic  effect.  A  mine 
owner  in  Pennsylvania  found  in  his  expense 
account  that  his  mules  were  costing  him  only  a 
half  of  what  they  had  been  costing.  Upon  in- 
quiry, as  he  told  a  friend  of  mine,  he  found  the 
mule  drivers  had  been  so  affected  by  Mr.  Sun- 
day's Scranton  revival  that  they  had  given  up 
swearing  and  beating  their  animals,  drinking 
and  destroying  harnesses. 

We  are  about  to  get  a  fresh  hold  on  religion, 
which  has  been  waiting  several  centuries  for  a 
new  psychology.  The  new  religion  will  be  both 
a  tonic  to  human  nature  and  a  renovation  of  eco- 
nomic practice. 

The  Hebrew  tradition  and  the  Roman  run 
through  the  Christian  Church ;  the  first  puts  more 
emphasis  on  life  and  usefulness;  the  other  on 
death  and  punishment.  When  the  Papacy  devel- 
oped a  hierarchical  state,  the  Roman  govern- 
mental system,  which  it  largely  inherited,  natur- 
ally smothered  communistic  Hebrew  elements. 
These  reasserted  themselves  sporadically.  An 
economic  rebellion  attended  a  theological  re- 
bellion. This  was  true  under  Hus,  Wyclif,  and 
Luther. 

We  must  always  remember  the  difference  be- 
tween religion  and  the  Church.  The  religious  cur- 
rents of  an  age  often  run  clearest  outside  the 
Church.    The  brightest  vision  is  often  seen  by  the 


250     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

solitary  man  who  is  unrecognized  by  organized 
and  established  churches.  It  is  upon  this  class 
of  prophets,  messiahs,  philosophers,  reformers, 
revolutionists,  the  precious  commission  has  been 
bestowed  of  richly  contributing  to  the  eternal 
renewal  and  growth  of  the  human   spirit. 

The  Roman  Church  succeeded  to  much  of  the 
power  and  organization  of  the  Roman  Empire; 
its  imperialistic  ideas,  naturally,  are  the  essence 
of  conservatism.  But  in  every  state,  the  Church, 
where  it  is  an  establishment,  is  conservative. 
Even  when  the  Church  is  supported  by  a  volun- 
tary system,  it  is  maintained  for  the  most  part, 
by  moneyed  classes  and  consequently  is  conserva- 
tive when  economic  ideas  are  involved.  The 
Churches  social  sympathy  is  individual  rather  than 
corporate;  its  social  idealism  is  sentimental  and 
not  essential.  The  solitaries  or  little  groups  who 
advocated  progress  have  often  been  sacrificed;  a 
transformation  of  conditions  that  would  relieve 
the  distress  of  misery  has  never  been  undertaken. 
Today  the  great  churches  of  the  world  stand 
ready  to  block  a  popular  revolution,  if  such  should 
be  the  outcome  of  the  war,  just  as  they  did  after 
Waterloo  when  the  Pope,  the  arch-conservative, 
was  made  the  repository  of  the  peace  of  Europe 
and  reaction  **put  on  the  lid.*' 

Of  course  **the  Church'*  could  not  prevent  the 
war,  or  stop  it.  The  Church,  regarded  as  a  con- 
servative institution,  was  a  part  of  the  war  his- 
torically and  economically.    The  German  feudal- 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION    251 

ism  still  must  thank  Luther  for  some  of  its  stub- 
bom  strength  transferred  to  it  from  the  Papacy; 
plutocracy  must  thank  Calvin  for  a  destruction 
of  budding  social  motives ;  while  economically  the 
principles  of  the  Church  are  the  same  as  those 
which  have  embroiled  the  nation.  Her  outcries 
have  been  local;  her  interference  political.  She 
has  had  no  vision  superior  to  that  of  the  com- 
batants ;  no  high  outlook  above  the  battle.  To  put 
it  crudely,  the  Church  has  adopted  the  reigning 
economies  and  is  merely  a  rubber  stamp  to  com- 
mercialism. It  sees  with  the  eyes  of  bankers, 
statesmen,  diplomats,  and  manufacturers.  It  is 
not  ahead  of  them  pointing  out  a  better  way,  but 
is  behind  them  depending  upon  their  defense  to 
preserve  its  property  and  its  influence. 

Eeligious  people,  being  largely  unacquainted 
with  the  history  of  economics,  are  generally  not 
aware  of  the  serious  injustice  they  practice  against 
the  classes  they  employ.  They  regard  economic 
conditions  as  inexorable,  divinely  ordained,  part 
of  the  natural  order,  and  they  make  their  conduct 
conform  to  an  absolute  and  personal  rather  than 
to  a  changing  and  social  ideal.  Charity  and  a  good 
conscience  are  the  ends  of  their  religious  effort. 
In  the  old  days  slaveholders  had  good  consciences 
and  were  benevolent.  Today  employers,  whose 
hands  are  stained  with  the  blood  of  Homestead, 
Pullman,  Ludlow,  Cabin  Creek,  have  apparently 
good  consciences  and  are  most  charitable. 

The  moment  economics  are  discovered  to  be 


252    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

plastic  and  the  so-called  laws  of  economics  merely 
a  relation  of  personal  humaneness,  depending 
upon  social  ideas  that  are  held  at  different  times, 
then  religion  becomes  obedient  to  a  social  law; 
then  charity  becomes  an  insult ;  a  good  conscience 
hypocrisy. 

Religion  today  can  be  a  distinct  help  to  the 
working-classes.  We  are  living  in  a  time  when 
two  comparatively  new  sciences,  psychology  and 
sociology,  are  recreating  the  foundations  of  re- 
ligious thought.  If  these  lead  us  to  accept  as 
a  definition  of  religion — that  it  is  the  impulse 
to  eternal  growth — then  there  is  no  limit  to 
the  service  that  religion  can  perform  for  the 
humbler  classes  of  society.  Religion  will  urge 
their  eternal  value  and  will  console  them  with 
ardent  encouragement  for  an  eternal  career.  It 
will  preach  the  formation  of  a  society  where 
growth  is  more  generally  possible  than  in  our  own 
and  it  will  urge  upon  the  strong  the  duty  and 
privilege  of  assisting  the  freest  and  fullest  devel- 
opment of  the  weak. 

Religion  too  will  direct  the  paths  of  emotion 
which  are  so  largely  the  paths  of  action  and  as  a 
preface  for  all  this  will  accustom  the  men  of  power 
today  to  the  idea  of  a  new  world-order  in  which 
the  worker  is  not  held  down  but  lifted  up ;  is  not 
silenced  but  listened  to;  is  not  insulted  but  hon- 
ored. 

Religion  must  affect  industrial  life,  otherwise 
the  culmination  of  material  prosperity  is  the  sig- 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION     253 

nal  for  decadence  by  misuse  of  wealth  at  the  hands 
of  pleasure-loving  heirs  of  great  property.  Only 
by  altruistic  and  social  motives  entering  and  pos- 
sessing a  civilization,  at  the  moment  of  its  danger- 
ous instability,  will  it  endure. 

The  Great  War  has  exploded  for  our  generation 
the  idea  that  religion  can  be  something  apart  from 
the  whole  organization  of  life. 


XII 

LABOR    ORGANIZATION     AND     ITS 
INFLUENCE  ON  OUR  PROBLEMS 


"The  problem  is  to  place  the  laborer  in  a  position  to  collect 
due  return  for  his  labor." 

"The  cure  of  poverty  is  prevention." 

Life  of  Joseph  Fels,  by  Maby  Fels. 

"  In  the  degree  in  which  men  have  an  active  concern  in  the  ends 
that  control  their  activity,  their  activity  becomes  free  or  voluntary 
and  loses  its  externally  enforced  and  servile  quality,  even  though 
the  physical  aspect  of  behavior  remain  the  same.  What  is  termed 
politics,  democratic  social  organization  makes  provision  for  this 
direct  participation  in  control;  in  the  economic  region,  control 
remains  external  and  autocratic.  .  .  .  An  education  which 
should  unify  the  disposition  of  the  members  of  society  would  do 
much  to  imify  society  itself." 

John  Dewey, 
Democracy  and  Education,  p.  305. 

"The  Trade  Union  Acts  of  1872  and  1875  averted  a  revolu- 
tion." (These  Acts  gave  legal  status  in  the  United  Kingdom  to 
trade-unions. ) 

John  Morley*s  Recollections,  Vol.  I,  p.  143. 


CHAPTER  XII 

LABOR  ORGANIZATION  AND  ITS  INFLU- 
ENCE ON  OUR  PROBLEMS 

WHILE  American  business  has  in  general 
refused  sympathetic  attention  to  trade- 
unionism  and  takes  even  today  a  hostile  attitude 
to  labor  organizations,  the  leading  countries  of 
Europe — England,  France,  and  Germany — even 
before  the  war  co-operated  notably  with  labor. 
This  may  seem  all  the  more  remarkable  to  us  be- 
cause in  Germany  labor  was  so  largely  socialistic, 
in  France  syndicalistic,  while  the  British  labor 
unions  were  admitted  into  the  Socialist  Con- 
gresses on  the  Continent  and  given  a  vote. 
Although  this  co-operation  was  different  in  dif- 
ferent countries,  it  produced  more  industrial 
peace  and  more  industrial  efficiency  than  that  en- 
joyed by  America. 

Now  in  the  midst  of  war  ** labor'*  in  these  Euro- 
pean countries  is  advancing  to  still  further  power. 
I  have  even  heard  rumors  of  an  industrial  rather 
than  a  political  democracy  as  desired  in  Germany, 
and  a  labor  rather  than  a  ** liberal  party'*  govern- 
ment as  possible  in  England. 

Before  America  has  taken  the  first  sympathetic 
step  towards  labor,  her  most   dangerous   com- 

257 


258     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

petitors  in  trade  may  have  gone  almost  the  whole 
distance. 

Organized  labor  in  America  has  many  good 
points.  The  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle,  himself  once  a 
mechanic,  now  a  trusted  adviser  of  conservative 
as  well  as  labor  interests,  writes  in  the  Miner  ^s 
Journal  for  August,  1917 : 

''Labor  halls  have  come  to  be  important  social  centers. 
Here  helpful  lecture  courses  on  moral  and  economic 
subjects  are  frequently  given.  The  labor  press  has  its 
educative  value.  Many  of  the  labor  journals,  especially 
those  published  by  the  International,  give  courses  in  tech- 
nical training. 

''A  genuine  moral  uplift  comes  through  the  regular 
meetings  of  the  union,  because  a  man  must  present  his 
facts  in  a  definite,  convincing  form  if  he  hopes  to  win 
over  his  associates  to  his  beliefs.  Every  man  has  a  fair 
chance  to  preach  these  views,  no  matter  how  unpopular 
they  may  be. 

"Nowhere  does  one  get  a  more  patient  hearing  than  at 
a  labor  union  meeting.  Here,  too,  he  learns  the  lesson 
of  subordination  to  the  wills  of  others.  He  learns  the 
value  of  'team  work' — of  co-operation. 

"In  the  labor  movement  the  working-man  learns  the 
lesson  of  thrift.  Rarely  does  a  trade-unionist  apply  to 
organized  charity  or  any  other  form  of  charity  for 
relief.  It  is  easily  possible  to  talk  about  the  value  of 
the  trade-union  as  a  force  for  temperance.  One  can 
easily  make  a  strong  argument  in  this  direction.  The 
question  of  the  education  and  the  Americanizing  of  the 
immigrant  must  be  discussed  in  favor  of  the  trade- 
union. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  259 

"Child-labor,  the  sweat  shop,  unsanitary  conditions  in 
shop  and  home,  are  all  questions  concerning  which  trade- 
unionism  need  not  be  ashamed  to  speak. ' ' 

In  England  *  *  the  principle  of  the  recognition  of 
trade-unions  by  the  state  has  been  conceded  dur- 
ing the  war. '  ^  ^  ^  Trade-unionism  has  much  to  con- 
tribute to  the  working  out  of  reconstruction  and 
its  contribution  could  best  be  made  through  some 
form  of  national  labor  council,  representatives  of 
the  whole  trade-union  movement  and  responsible 
for  expressing  to  the  government  the  considered 
policy  of  the  movement,  and  for  negotiating  with 
it  concerning  trade-unions  and  labor  questions.'*  * 

A  vice-president  of  the  National  City  Bank  has 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  war  will  weaken 
trade-unionism  and  that  it  will  be  easier  to  deal 
with  working-men  as  individuals  after  the  war, — 
that  there  will  be  less  collective  bargaining.  This 
is  a  dangerous  hope  for  our  financiers  to  indulge 
in — for  they  will  naturally  be  inclined  to  hasten 
or  assist  what  in  their  opinion  the  times  presage, 
and  obey  Nietzsche's  maxim,  **if  you  see  a  thing 
falling,  push  if;  but  they  will  discover  that  they 
are  attempting  to  overthrow  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  world — organized  labor — and  that  their 
assault  only  increases  its  strength. 

Worse  still,  such  an  attitude  towards  labor  of 
aggressive  ill-will  fails  to  take  note  of  what  the 
war  has  brought  about  in  England,  whence  we 

*  Monthly  Review,  U.  S.  Labor  Statistics,  August,  1917. 


260     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

derive  on  the  whole  our  labor  legislation  and  pro- 
gram. Our  labor  condition  in  the  United  States 
was  the  same  before  the  war  as  the  English  con- 
dition. **In  pre-war  days,''  says  G.  H.  Roberts, 
M.P.,  **  employers  and  employees  were  rapidly 
drifting  into  a  state  of  mutual  suspicion  and  ill- 
concealed  antagonism.''  Dr.  Arthur  Shadwell, 
from  whose  article  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for 
July,  1917,  the  quotation  is  taken,  believes  that 
England  has  lost  its  opportunity  of  peaceful  ad- 
justment by  its  failure  to  punish  private  profiteer- 
ing during  the  war  while  it  exacted  a  full  measure 
of  patriotic  sacrifice  from  labor.  The  situation 
in  England  is  tense.  Dr.  Shadwell  says,  **The 
country  is  on  the  edge  of  an  industrial  volcano." 
But  the  British  Government  is  taking  steps  to 
conciliate  labor  and  to  strengthen  it.  A  report 
was  issued  in  July  by  a  sub-committee  of  the 
reconstruction  committees  for  the  permanent 
improvement  of  relations  between  employers  and 
workmen.  One  important  undertaking  will  be  the 
restoration  of  trade-union  rules  and  customs  sus- 
pended by  the  war.  **  National  industrial  coun- 
cils are  advocated  in  order  to  secure  co-operation 
by  granting  to  working-men  and  women  a  greater 
share  in  the  consideration  of  matters  affecting 
their  industry."  England  is  on  the  edge  of  an 
industrial  revolution;  her  government  is  making 
arrangement  for  greater  co-operation  between 
employers  and  employees  and  the  encouragement 
of   trade-unionism,    while     American    financiers, 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  261 

when  their  country  is  in  precisely  the  same  situ- 
ation of  intense  labor  unrest,  are  counting  upon 
the  break-up  of  labor  organizations.  Do  they  for- 
get that  just  before  the  United  States  entered  the 
war,  in  the  first  months  of  1917,  organized  labor 
roundly  declared  it  would  not  obey  laws  that 
might  be  passed  to  prevent  strikes,  affirming  that 
they  would  rather  be  called  law-breakers  than 
to  become  slaves?  In  America  before  the  war 
labor  was  threatening  and  capital  was  losing 
patience.  In  August,  1917,  John  MitchelPs  de- 
scription of  the  attitude  of  American  labor  dupli- 
cates the  English  situation: 

**It  must  be  remembered  that  the  workers  have  been 
hearing  about  the  tremendous  earnings  of  some  of  the 
large  corporations.  The  cost  of  living  for  the  workman 
has  increased,  however,  and  so  this  great  prosperity  rep- 
resents adversity  for  him.  His  wages  have  been  in- 
creased, but  his  purchasing  power  is  actually  less  than 
before  the  war.  So  they  feel,  and  justly,  I  believe,  that 
they  should  be  given  some  share  of  this  prosperity.'** 

Why  should  not  like  causes  provoke  like  re- 
sults I  Why  should  America  not  face  an  industrial 
revolution  if  it  persists  in  measures  and  attitudes 
which  in  England  caused  a  serious  writer  in  an 
important  review  to  say,  *^The  country  is  on  the 
edge  of  an  industrial  volcano'*? 

There  are  indeed  more  reasons  for  industrial 
disturbances  in  America.    We  have  similar  labor 

♦  New  York  Evening  Post,  August  8,  1917. 


262    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

conditions,  but  we  have  exasperated  them.  Eng- 
land has  encouraged  unionism.  Our  greatest 
corporations  are  the  foes  of  organized  labor. 
Oil,  steel,  copper,  all  have  fought  labor  fiercely. 
Our  great  traction  companies  are  also  the  foes 
of  trade-unionism.  We  in  the  United  States  have 
as  combustible  material  collected  for  an  industrial 
revolution  as  they  have  in  England;  in  addition, 
upon  our  bonfire  we  have  poured  petroleum. 

America  at  war  may  acquire  industrial  meth- 
ods which  will  leave  their  mark  on  business, — 
socialized  methods  more  like  those  of  England,  or 
France,  or  Germany.  Professor  Kuno  Francke, 
of  Harvard  University,  believes  that  **  there  will 
assert  itself  in  all  the  countries  affected  by  the 
war  a  strong  influence  of  the  German  principle 
of  the  responsibility  of  the  state  for  the  physical, 
moral,  and  intellectual  effectiveness  of  all  its 
members.  And  the  result  will  be  an  era  of  social 
and  educational  reform  throughout  the  world." 
To  do  this  our  intense  individualism  will  have  to 
be  modified ;  existing  feuds  between  employer  and 
employee  will  have  to  cease;  the  prosecution  and 
the  **frame  up"  of  labor  leaders  will  have  to  be 
discarded  and  mutual  distrust  overcome.  Em- 
ployers, judges,  political  parties,  will  have  to  treat 
the  labor  question  more  sympathetically  and 
intelligently. 

Labor  in  America  aspires  to  what  Europe  has 
given  and  is  likely  to  enlarge — an  influential 
voice  in  industry  and  government.    In  war  time 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  263 

the  state  asks  all  of  us  what  we  can  do  to  help. 
In  peace  time  a  labor  government  would  see  to  it 
that  all  of  us  actually  and  intelligently  did  help 
the  state. 


Three  Labor  Propagandas 

Looking  toward  labor  control  of  government, 
there  are  in  the  United  States  three  distinct 
propagandas.  Socialism  works  through  political 
methods  but  looks  forward  ultimately  to  a  labor 
government  in  place  of  a  political  government. 
Industrial  unionism,  as  represented  by  the  In- 
dustrial Workers  of  the  World — the  I.  W.  W.'s — 
believes  in  direct  action  rather  than  political 
methods  to  gain  its  ends — ^in  strikes  rather  than  in 
legislation.  But  it  also  looks  forward  to  a  labor 
government. 

The  New  Machine  is  an  incipient  movement  to 
form  a  government  by  the  mobilizing  of  arts  and 
science,  that  is  by  the  harmonious  co-operation 
of  the  scientific,  art,  industrial,  and  business 
forces  of  the  country.  The  real  rulers  will  rule, 
not  a  faineant  political  party.  Here  again  actual 
productive  power  is  substituted  in  government 
for  political  power. 

*'The  American  Commonwealth  (says  Charles  Fer- 
guson) can  be  made  powerful  and  prosperous  by 
substituting  for  the  existing  partisan  or  bipartisan 
'Machine'  in  local  communities    a  political  institution 


264     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

devoted  to  really  practical  politics,  namely,  to  an  econ- 
omy of  the  resources  of  nature  and  the  creative  abilities 
of  men,  with  a  view  to  increasing  the  purchasing-power 
of  everybody's  day's  work."* 

The  labor  movement  in  America  in  its  extreme 
expression  can  best  be  studied  in  the  I.  W.  W., 
feared  for  its  fearlessness  by  the  conservative; 
applauded  for  its  efficiency  by  the  radical. 

The  I.  W.  W.  has  received  a  great  many  hard 
knocks  from  the  press  as  well  as  from  police- 
men's clubs,  not  only  for  what  it  has  done,  but 
on  account  of  the  mystery  which  surrounds  its 
organization  and  methods.  More  power  has  been 
imputed  to  them  than  they  possess;  more  an- 
archistic violence  than  they  plan;  more  deviltry 
than  they  are  capable  of. 

Glimpses  behind  the  scenes  are  welcome  that 
reveal  the  I.  W.  W.  in  undress,  in  its  every-day 
organization  and  methods. 

The  court  proceedings  in  Seattle,  attending  the 
trial  of  Thomas  Tracy,  have  opened  the  I.  W.  W. 
to  the  light  of  common  day. 

**The  vague,  incoherent  specter  of  an  unmen- 
tionable organization,  which  has  haunted  the 
minds  of  the  average  citizens  at  the  words 
I.  W.  W.,  received  a  local  habitation  and  a  name, 
and  was  seen  to  consist  of  local  unions,  secre- 
taries, committees,  and  other  commonplace  ele- 
ments.'' 

*  New  York  Evening  Post,  March  27,  1917. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  265 

History  of  the  I.  W.  W. 

A  description  of  this  organization  from  the 
mouth  of  one  of  its  founders  may  help  us  to  see 
the  limitations  and  weakness  of  this — the  fighting 
labor  organization.  I  shall  proceed,  therefore, 
for  a  few  paragraphs  to  use  the  language  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Flynn,  the  father  of  Elizabeth  Gurley 
Flynn,  who  was  for  some  time  the  New  York  or- 
ganizer of  the  I.  W.  W.  and  who  was  interested 
enough  in  my  study  of  the  organization  to  give 
me  this  story  of  the  movement: 

''The  I.  W.  W.  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  Social 
Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  and  of  the  Socialist  Labor 
Party.  In  1904  American  Socialists,  troubled  about 
method,  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  at  Chicago.  The 
I.  W.  W.,  it  has  been  said,  was  launched  by  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners  as  a  buffer.  They 
did  actually  participate,  but  the  Socialist  Party 
fought  shy. 

"De  Leon,  however,  saw  in  the  convention  a  way  to 
get  back  into  the  Socialist  Party.  Representing  at  Chi- 
cago the  old  remnant  of  the  Social  Trade  and  Labor 
Alliance,  he  was  easily  the  dominating  figure  of  the  con- 
vention. He  was  what  I  would  call  a  fifteenth-century 
mind.  If  embittered  against  any  one  he  was  not  merely 
vehement  but  venomous. 

"The  Chicago  Convention  was  held  in  1905.  Bill 
Haywood  was  in  the  chair.  Father  Hagerty,  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest,  drew  up  the  preamble  of  the  I.  W.  W. 
convention.  The  stand  taken  was  calculated  to  put 
over  Socialism  and  to  do  it  in  opposition  to  the  old 


266     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

trade-unions.  The  I.  W.  W.  as  an  industrial  organiza- 
tion was  planned  that  it  might  grow  up  within  capital- 
ism and  finally  replace  capitalism  after  the  latter 's 
overthrow. 

''De  Leon,  acting  at  this  time  in  good  faith,  had  his 
way  in  the  convention.  The  I.  W.  W.  movement  pub- 
lished a  paper,  but  De  Leon  with  his  paper,  The  Peo- 
ple, was  the  real  spokesman.  Socialists  as  a  whole  op- 
posed the  movement  and  blamed  Debs,  whom  they  con- 
sidered an  able  but  mistaken  man.  They  believed  that 
the  I.  W.  W.  was  nothing  but  the  Social  Trade  and 
Labor  Alliance  launched  again. 

**  However,  there  were  one  hundred  thousand  dues- 
paying  members  at  the  very  least;  in  other  words,  the 
movement  was  at  its  height. 

**A  second  convention  was  iield  in  1906.  The  dis- 
agreement came  here  to  a  head.  Debs  did  not  attend 
this  convention  nor  had  afterward  anything  to  do  with 
the  I.  W.  W. 

**  After  the  convention  De  Leon  was  hailed  as  the 
savior  of  the  organization,  when  actually  by  eliminating 
Sherman  and  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  he  had 
split  it  in  two — all  for  the  sake  of  getting  rid  of  one 
man. 

'*In  1907  the  convention  was  under  the  control  of  De 
Leon,  who  juggled  its  politics  at  his  will. 

*'The  1908  convention  was  a  fight  against  De  Leon- 
ism,  which  resulted  in  De  Leon  and  his  following  being 
thrown  out.  De  Leon  was  expelled  upon  a  technicality 
— that  being  in  the  printing  trade  he  had  no  business 
to  present  his  credentials  as  one  of  the  store  and  office 
workers. 

*'You  sometimes  hear  of  De  Leonism.  By  that  is 
meant  De  Leon's  desire  for  political  action  in  the  set- 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  267 

tlement  of  disputes  as  a  'civilized'  method.  He  pre- 
ferred the  ballot  and  peaceful  agitation. 

"The  1908  convention  dropped  the  political  clause 
and  became  a  straight-out  labor  organization.  De  Leon 
immediately  called  it  an  anarchist  group  and  went  fur- 
ther in  his  denunciations  than  any  capitalist.  He 
formed  another  I.  W.  W.  in  Michigan,  which  has  what 
is  practically  an  imaginary  existence  in  Detroit,  the 
main  organization  remaining  in  Chicago  with  Traut- 
man  as  its  chief  organizer. 

*'In  1909,  though  there  was  no  convention,  a  begin- 
ning was  made  at  doing  things  as  a  labor  organization. 
Previous  to  1909  there  had  been  no  big  strikes  except 
one  in  Schenectady  which  after  two  or  three  days'  dura- 
tion was  a  failure. 

''At  this  time  Elizabeth  Gurley  Fl3nin  was  in  Mis- 
soula, Montana.  At  the  army  post  in  this  town  it  hap- 
pened that  many  of  the  soldiers  had  been  reading  a 
book  by  Herve,  entitled  'Anti-Patriotism,'  an  argu- 
ment against  militarism.  This  aroused  discussion  which 
finally  culminated  in  a  riot  incited  by  an  itinerant 
I.  W.  W.  speaker,  who  was  arrested.  Elizabeth  Gurley 
Flynn,  not  having  been  one  of  the  speakers,  was  not 
arrested  and  was  the  only  one  of  the  local  organization 
left  free.  She  telegraphed  all  the  available  I.  W.  W. 
traveling  speakers,  who  arrived  in  almost  every  train, 
held  street  meetings,  and  were  arrested  one  and  all. 
The  jail  was  filled  and  an  annex,  a  schoolhouse  ap- 
propriated for  the  purpose,  was  also  filled.  The  pris- 
oners claimed  the  food  was  not  good  enough  or  in  large 
enough  quantities.  The  authorities  saw  they  had  too 
much  of  a  problem,  especially  in  regard  to  expense,  on 
their  hands  and  opened  the  Jail.  Immediately,  mass 
meetings  were  held  in  the  principal  streets  and  many 


268     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

converts  to  the  I.  W.  W.  movement  were  made.  After 
the  meeting  the  prisoners  tried  to  get  back  into  the  jail 
but  found  they  had  been  locked  out. 

* '  They  thought  they  could  do  this  same  trick  in  every 
city.  They  tried  it  in  Spokane  but  were  beaten,  starved, 
and  put  in  sweat  boxes.  But  in  spite  of  this  they  per- 
sisted and  the  city  was  finally  made  to  recognize  the 
right  of  free  speech. 

**In  1910  occurred  the  McKees  Rocks  Strike,  which 
was  run  by  the  I.  W.  W.  and  marked  the  beginning  of 
sabotage.  The  State  constabulary  was  called  in  to  set- 
tle the  strike.  They  clubbed  and  shot  one  of  the 
strikers.  The  strikers  in  turn  killed  one  of  the  State 
constabulary  men  and  declared  they  would  kill  one 
for  every  striker  that  was  shot.  The  strikers  won.  In 
1911  occurred  the  Lawrence  Strike  and  later  the 
Paterson  Strike.  Meanwhile  from  1908  on  strikes  and 
free  street  fights  did  nothing  to  organize  the  working- 
class. 

**In  1912  I  became  the  New  York  organizer.  I  felt 
there  was  too  much  of  the  'bum  element';  and  that 
there  were  no  actual  organized  bodies  of  working-men. 
I  did  not  believe  in  street  meetings  but  rather  in  meet- 
ing with  the  working-men  in  their  halls. 

*  *  The  convention  in  1913  was  the  occasion  of  the  fight 
between  'centralizers'  and  'decentralizers'  about  or- 
ganization. The  organization  not  only  made  it  possible 
for  a  little  coterie  at  headquarters  to  dominate  the  en- 
tire movement,  but  also  great  injustice  was  done  by  a 
flat  rather  than  a  proportional  method  of  representa- 
tion. The  decentralizers,  however,  were  so  divided — 
some  of  them  favoring  no  organization  at  all — that  the 
convention  endorsed  the  old  centralized  methods. 

**At  the  report  of  this  action  of  the  convention  the 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  269 

locals  in  New  York  melted  away  like  snow.  As  a  re- 
sult the  general  executive  board,  that  is  to  say,  the 
centralizers,  won.  The  principal  locals  had  been  the 
piano  workers  in  the  Bronx,  and  the  silk-workers. 
Since  the  convention  in  1913  there  has  been  very  little 
to  the  I.  W.  W.  movement — the  piano  workers,  for  in- 
stance, becoming  an  independent  union. 

' '  Considerable  work  has  been  done  in  the  West,  where 
the  situation  is  altogether  different  from  the  East,  es- 
pecially among  migratory  workers,  such  as  harvest 
workers.  In  the  East,  outside  of  Paterson  and  perhaps 
Philadelphia,  there  is  no  real  organization.  In  1905 
there  were  one  hundred  thousand  dues-paying  members. 
In  1913  at  the  convention  the  total  number  of  votes 
was  only  2,200,  showing  how  the  organization  had  run 
down. 

''Many  I.  W.  W.'s  represent  a  state  of  mind  and  not 
a  formal  adherence  to  the  organization  or  to  the  con- 
stitution. For  instance,  in  the  winter  of  1913-14, 
Frank  Tannenbaum,  who  wanted  to  organize  the  unem- 
ployed and  who  came  to  Haywood  and  secured  his  ap- 
proval, was  not  a  formal  I.  W.  W.'^ 


The  Futility  of  Trade-Unionism 

The  I.  W.  W.  have  seen  the  futility  of  trade  or- 
ganization or  craft  organization.  Trade-union- 
ism has  developed  an  aristocracy  of  labor, — 
each  craft  looks  out  for  itself  and  is  as  capital- 
istic as  the  employers.  Each  union  will  make 
separate  contracts  and  will  sell  its  labor  as  read- 
ily as  a  shoe  manufacturer  sells  shoes.  Em- 
ployers are  able  to  take  advantage  of  these  sepa- 


270     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

rate  organizations  to  make  separate  contracts 
with  them  which  terminate  at  different  dates. 
The  result  of  this  is,  generally,  that  some  of  these 
craftsmen  can  be  kept  at  work  in  time  of  strikes 
and  the  works  can  be  kept  open.  This  fact  be- 
comes a  basis  for  an  appeal  by  the  employer  for 
individual  workmen,  that  is  to  say,  non-union  men, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  strikers.  It  also  provides 
a  basis  for  the  public  claim  that  his  place  is  going 
on  as  usual,  which  has  a  very  important  effect 
upon  the  newspaper-reading  public.  **A  manager 
of  a  railroad  who  can  keep  control  of  fifteen 
per  cent,  of  the  old  men  can  allow  eighty-five  per 
cent,  to  go  out  on  strike  and  defeat  them  every 
time. ' '  * 

There  are  two  types  of  unions, — the  craft 
union,  which  is  organized  according  to  the  tools 
used,  and  the  industrial  union,  which  includes  the 
whole  industry.  This  latter  is  the  I.  W.  W.  type. 
The  I.  W.  W.  believe  in  the  organization  of  an  in- 
dustry from  top  to  bottom.  They  take  into  this 
organization  both  men  and  women  and  give  them 
equal  voting  power.  They  not  only  take  in  men 
and  women,  but  boys  and  girls,  if  they  are  em- 
ployed in  an  industry.  That  is  to  say,  the  or- 
ganization of  the  I.  W.  W.,  in  what  may  be  called 
its  political  form,  parallels  its  industrial  form. 
Such  an  organization  is  a  keen  criticism  of  mod- 
ern democracy,  which  demands  child-labor  and  fe- 
male labor  for  the  creation  of  wealth  and  yet  will 

*Andr6  Tridon,  "The  New  Unionism,"  p.  8. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  271 

not  give  to  these  persons — necessary  for  its  in- 
dustrial existence — a  political  status. 

William  Haywood  says  that  thirty-five  million 
workers  in  the  United  States  cannot  join  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor.  In  other  words, 
he  considers  organized  government  by  the  union 
workers  is  as  harsh  and  exclusive  as  organized 
government  by  the  capitalists. 

The  futility  of  trade-unions  is  revealed  by 
conditions  which  diminish  the  importance  of  skilled 
labor.  Specialization  in  industry  has  become  so 
particularized  as  to  provide  a  different  job  for 
almost  every  different  mechanical  motion  required 
in  production.  As  a  result  an  individual  of  any 
intelligence  in  most  shops  and  mills  can  acquire 
his  ** trade''  in  a  very  short  time. 

The  general  cause  for  the  failure  of  trade- 
unions  is  declared  by  Mr.  Andre  Tridon — the 
author  of  **The  New  Unionism" — to  be  the  in- 
judicious use  of  power. 

**  Trade-unions  are  efficient  as  centers  of  resistance 
against  the  encroachments  of  capital.  They  fail  to  a 
certain  extent,  however,  from  an  injudicious  use  of  their 
power.  They  fail  generally  because  they  confine  them- 
selves to  a  guerrilla  war  against  the  effects  of  the  exist- 
ing system  instead  of  trying  to  change  it  in  its  entirety, 
instead  of  using  their  organized  forces  as  a  lever  for 
the  final  emancipation  of  the  working-class,  that  is  to 
say,  the  ultimate  abolition  of  the  wage  system. ' '  • 

*  Tridon,  "The  New  Unionism,"  p.  11. 


272     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Syndicalism 

The  word  *^ Syndic**  has  been  in  common  use 
in  France  in  connection  with  labor  associations 
for  two  generations.  The  nearest  equivalent 
for  ** Trade-Unions'*  in  French  is  ''Syndicats 
ouvriers**  (** Working-men  Syndicates**).  How- 
ever, the  word  ** Syndicalism**  is  of  more  recent 
origin  and  has  a  special  meaning.  It  denotes 
the  policy  of  the  **  Confederation  Generale  du 
Travail,**  the  object  of  which  is  the  destruction 
by  force  of  the  existing  organization  and  the 
transfer  of  industrial  capital  from  its  present 
possessors  to  Syndicalists,  or  in  other  words  to 
the  revolutionary  Trade-Unions.  The  means  by 
which  this  object  is  to  be  secured  is  the  **  Gen- 
eral Strike." 

**  French  Trade  Unions  are  divided  into  two  classes. 
In  the  one  are  those  unions  which  propose  to  gain  their 
ends  by  revolutionary  means,  and  are  known  as  '  Syndi- 
cats  rouges ' ;  in  the  other  are  those  whose  efforts  to  im- 
prove their  position  are  restricted  within  constitutional 
limits,  and  are  called  'Syndicats  jaunes.'  '*• 

Syndicalism  bases  its  revolutionary  program 
not  only  upon  economic  but  upon  social  condi- 
tions. M.  Sorel  declares  that  the  bourgeoisie, 
which  ought  to  be  the  pioneer  of  progress,  **has 
lost  all  virility,  and  its  present  attitude  is  a  mix- 
ture of  whimpering  egoism  in  dread  of  spolia- 

*  Sir  Arthur  Clay,  "  Syndicalism  and  Labour,"  p.  2. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  273 

tion,  and  of  feeble-minded  humanitarianism.  The 
world  cannot  look  for  help  from  this  source. 
The  lamentations  of  a  lachrymose  bourgeoisie 
will  not  avail  to  save  it.*'  * 

This  same  finding  is  a  part  of  the  extreme  in- 
dustrial radicalism  in  England  and  in  America. 
It  asserts  that  the  middle  class,  which  has  been 
the  backbone  of  these  nations,  is  being  dissolved, 
part  ascending  to  millionairedom  and  part  being 
cast  into  the  ranks  of  the  proletariat. 

Syndicalism  proposes  to  make  the  middle  class 
wake  up  and  fight  for  its  life  and  so  to  give  new 
vital  direction  to  civilization. 

The  syndicalist  may  so  firmly  believe  in  this 
purpose  of  his  doctrine  as  to  attain  a  feeling 
closely  akin  to  religious  fervor.  For  instance,  M. 
Sorel  not  only  asserts  a  close  analogy  between 
syndicalism  and  religion  but  goes  on  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  to  be  accepted  as  a  religion.  He 
finds  warrant  for  this  belief  in  Bergson's  teach- 
ing that  a  revolutionary  myth  has  as  good  a 
title  as  a  religion  to  inspire  the  conscience  of 
men. 

The  I.  W.  W.  are  interesting  because  they  rep- 
resent the  militant  side  of  American  labor  or- 
ganizations. They  are  American  Syndicalists; 
they  believe  in  the  irreconciliable  conflict  between 
the  classes;  they  repel  all  aid  from  outside  their 
own  numbers;  they  scorn  reform  or  any  com- 
promises; they  despise  even  their  fellow-work- 

*  Sir  Arthur  Clay,  "  Syndicalism  and  Labour,"  p.  11. 


274     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

men  who  are  members  of  trade-unions  with  their 
aristocratic  and  capitalistic  tendencies. 

The  Syndicalist  is  anti-militarist  as  against 
workmen  but  militarist  as  against  employers. 
His  prime  object,  however,  is  not  destruction 
but  the  study  of  economic  law  and  productive 
processes  so  that  finally  when  by  his  warfare 
upon  capital  he  takes  possession  himself  indus- 
trially, he  may  be  capable  of  carrying  it  on. 

The  novelty  of  the  principles  and  methods  of 
labor  organization  can  be  judged  by  the  fact  that 
the  word  ** Syndicalism''  and  the  word  ** Sabo- 
tage" are  not  to  be  found  either  in  the  New  Cen- 
tury Dictionary  (1911)  or  the  **  Encyclopaedia  of 
Social  Reform''  (1908). 

Sabotage 

Sabotage  is  closely  enough  connected  with 
Syndicalism  and  the  I.  W.  W.  to  warrant  a  brief 
explanation.  The  essence  of  sabotage  is  injury 
done  to  the  employer  by  his  employees,  while 
working  for  him.  If  labor  is  considered  as  a  mer- 
chandise sold  in  the  open  market,  which  is  the 
theory  accepted  by  capital,  there  is  no  reason  why 
workers  should  not  attempt  to  raise  their  prices 
for  this  merchandise  of  labor  when  economic  con- 
ditions either  compel  or  permit  them  to  do  so.  If, 
when  this  is  attempted,  employers  prove  unwill- 
ing, the  worker,  the  I.  W.  W.  claim,  may  then  give 
inferior  labor  for  inferior  pay.  This,  then,  is  the 
theory  of  sabotage — poor  work  for  poor  pay. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  275 

Sabotage  is  a  device  practiced  by  workers  in 
their  militant  efforts  to  raise  prices.  They  be- 
lieve themselves  justified  by  capitalistic  destruc- 
tion to  raise  prices  or  dividends. 

*' Carloads  of  potatoes  were  destroyed  in  Illinois  re- 
cently and  cotton  was  burned  in  the  Southern  stores; 
coffee  was  destroyed  by  the  Brazilian  planters;  barge 
loads  of  onions  were  dumped  overboard  in  California, 
apples  are  left  to  rot  on  the  trees  of  whole  orchards  in 
Washington;  and  hundreds  of  tons  of  foodstuffs  are 
held  in  cold  storage  and  rendered  unfit  for  consump- 
tion.''* 

** There  are  three  kinds  of  sabotage: 

*'l.  Active  sabotage,  which  consists  in  the  damaging 
of  goods  or  machinery. 

**2.  Open-mouthed  sabotage  beneficial  to  the  ultimate 
consumer  and  which  consists  in  exposing  or  defeating 
fraudulent  commercial  practices. 

*'3.  Obstructionism  or  passive  sabotage,  which  con- 
sists in  carrying  out  orders  literally,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences. ' '  t 

The  ease  with  which  sabotage  can  be  practiced 
by  an  employee  is  seen  from  the  following  advice 
given  to  French  syndicalists  by  Sebastien  Faure 
and  Ponget.l 

'*To  put  boilers  out  of  order  use  explosives  or  sili- 
cates or  plain  glass  bottle  which  thrown  on  the  glowing 
coals  hinders  combustion  and  clogs  up  the  smoke  ex- 
hausts.   You  can  also  use  acids  to  corrode  boiler  tubes; 

•  Tridon,  "  The  New  Unionism,"  p.  54.    f  p.  43.    t  P-  48, 


276     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

aeid  fumes  will  ruin  cylinders  and  piston  rods.  A  small 
quantity  of  some  corrosive  substance,  a  handful  of 
emery  will  be  the  end  of  oil  cups.  When  it  comes  to 
dynamos  or  transformers,  short  circuits  and  inversion 
of  poles  can  be  easily  managed.  Underground  cables 
can  be  destroyed  by  fire,  water,  or  explosives.'* 

Such  advice  discloses  both  the  delicacy  of  the 
modern  industrial  organism  as  well  as  the  high 
moral  standards  and  loyalty  to  society  at  large 
upon  which  social  stability  depends.  Without  the 
co-operation  of  all  classes,  **  peace '*  in  the  future 
will  be  only  a  more  hateful  form  of  war. 

The  Futility  of  the  Ballot 

The  I.  W.  W.  do  not  believe  in  securing  their 
rights  by  votes.  They  are  not  suspicious  of  the 
ballot  but  laugh  at  it.  Out  of  the  thirty-five  mil- 
lions of  workers  in  the  United  States,  there  are 
**  approximately  eighteen  million  people  who  can 
in  no  manner  be  directly  interested  in  politics,  to 
wit:  1,700,000  children  wage-workers,  4,800,000 
women  wage-workers,  3,500,000  foreign  wage- 
workers,  5,000,000  negro  wage-workers,  3,000,000 
floating  and  otherwise  disfranchised  wage- 
workers.  ' ' 

Moreover,  the  proletariat  is  learning  the  lesson 
that  **  political  power  is  merely  the  reflex  of  eco- 
nomic power  and  that  political  advantage  can 
only  be  had  through  economic  superiority, ' '  * 

•Tridon,  "The  New  Unionism,"  pp.  14,  16. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  277 

The  I.  W.  W.  are  not  a  political  party  nor  do 
they  want  to  be.  That  would  be  treachery  to 
their  every  hope.  Vandervelde  holds  that  **the 
great  truth  contained  in  the  theory  of  direct  ac- 
tion is  that  one  cannot  obtain  vital  reforms 
through  intermediaries,  who  are  governed  by 
public  opinion.*  This  theory  that  the  political 
representatives  of  labor  succumb  to  public  opin- 
ion and  are  finally  disloyal  to  labor  deserves 
attention.  In  other  words,  the  I.  W.  W.  exist 
to  do  what  political  parties  cannot  do.  They 
would  unite  the  workers  in  the  places  where  they 
work  in  order  that  the  fight  with  individual  em- 
ployers can  be  made  unitedly  and  the  class  spirit 
of  the  workers  developed  in  united  fashion.  Fi- 
nally,— so  runs  the  ideal  program, — the  workers 
will  be  able  to  seize  the  workshops  and  will  oper- 
ate them  for  themselves. 

No  ownership,  except  by  the  workers  them- 
selves, is  considered  feasible  by  the  I.  W.  W.  They 
oppose  Socialism,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  politi- 
cal party,  and  specifically  a  program  of  govern- 
ment ownership,  that  is  to  say,  another  form  of 
indirect  action.  To  be  sure  the  Socialist  Party 
holds  that  it  is  the  workers  who  are  going  to 
vote  themselves  to  control  of  the  government; 
that  is,  the  socialized  government  will  run  the 
industries.  But  this,  to  the  I.  W.  W.,  would  be 
merely  a  new  variety  of  the  slavery  that  already 

•Tridon,  "The  New  Unionism,"  p.  24. 


278     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

exists  under  private  ownership.    The  pressure  of 
public  opinion  is  their  bete  noire. 

Emergence  of  the  I.  W.  W.  to  Clearer  Public 

View 

At  the  trial  of  Thomas  Tracy  for  the  murder 
of  Jefferson  Beard,  some  very  interesting  evi- 
dence was  introduced  which  brightens  the  face  of 
the  I.  W.  W.  The  murder  took  place  when  the 
I.  W.  W.  excursion  boat  from  Seattle,  containing 
I.  W.  W.  members,  tried  to  land  in  Everett, 
Washington,  to  demonstrate  in  favor  of  free 
speech  and  their  organization,  which  had  been 
driven  out  of  the  town.  I  quote  from  the  New 
York  Evening  Post,  of  March  27,  1917 : 

**An  ordinance  signed  by  the  Mayor  on  September  21 
prohibited  street-speaking  in  the  business  section. 

*'  'Don't  you  know,'  said  Mr.  Vanderveer,  'that  the 
records  of  that  ordinance  show  that  it  never  was  passed 
and  never  was  even  voted  on  ? ' 

'*  *I  haven't  examined  the  records,'  said  the  Mayor. 

**  'You  signed  them,  didn't  you ?'  And  this  the  Mayor 
admitted.  Rushed  through  illegally,  an  ordinance 
which  had  never  even  been  voted  on  was  put  into  effect 
by  the  Mayor's  signature,  and  because  they  were  under 
suspicion  of  intending  to  violate  this  ordinance, 
I.  W.  W.'s  were  deported,  with  and  without  beatings. 

"That  I.  W.  W.  speakers  were  arrested  repeatedly, 
thrown  into  jail,  taken  next  day  to  the  city  limits,  some- 
times beaten,  and  that  this  occurred  repeatedly  during 
August,  September,  and  October,  during  which  time  no 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  279 

member  of  the  organization  resisted  arrest  or  violated 
any  city  ordinance,  or  received  a  trial  on  the  question 
of  street-speaking,  is  clear  from  the  State's  own  wit- 
nesses." 

The  I.  W.  W.  of  all  labor  organizations  have 
studied  the  history  of  strikes  most  carefully  and 
are  best  acquainted  with  the  tactics  of  labor  war- 
fare. They  believe  that  a  trained  fighting  or- 
ganization, even  if  small,  is  better  than  a  large, 
and  what  they  consider  timid,  apathetic  trades- 
union  organization,  successful  only  in  collecting 
large  dues. 

Militancy  of  the  I.  W.  W. 

In  America  the  death  or  the  imprisonment  of 
I.  W.  W.  leaders,  and  the  unsuccessful  outcome  of 
some  of  their  strikes,  has  diverted,  in  the  East, 
attention  from  them.  The  success,  on  the  other 
hand,  of  the  labor  unions,  under  the  leadership 
of  Mr.  Gompers,  by  entirely  different  ideas  and 
methods,  is  so  extraordinary  that  it  may  well  be 
that  Syndicalism  in  America  lacks  the  economic 
importance  it  has  had  in  France  and  Italy. 
At  the  same  time  it  should  be  noticed  that  the 
A.  F.  of  L.  is  not  in  sympathy  with  the  extreme 
labor  groups  in  Europe.  A  more  socialistic  labor 
party  may  be  expected  in  America  which  would  be 
a  link  between  Europe  *s  radicals  and  our  own, 
but  not  going  to  either  extreme. 

I  used  the  words  of  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 


280     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

I.  W.  W.  to  describe  its  origin  and  its  career  till 
1913.  I  will  use  the  description  of  another  well- 
known  labor  leader  for  the  period  from  1913  to 
May,  1917.  The  following  statement  was  prepared 
for  me  by  Patrick  L.  Quinlan  in  April,  1917 : 


'  *  Since  the  great  strike  of  1913,  when  the  silk  industry 
of  Paterson  and  Union  Hill,  New  Jersey;  Long  Island 
City  and  Manhattan,  New  York,  and  Hazelton,  Penn- 
sylvania, was  at  a  standstill,  the  I.  W.  W.  has  given  no 
concrete  evidence  of  life  in  the  world  of  labor.  True,  it 
has  been  heard  from  frequently  during  the  past  three 
and  a  half  years,  but  the  disturbance  made  by  it  was 
vocal  rather  than  industrial.  Indeed,  I  may  safely  say 
that  all  the  energies  of  the  I.  W.  W.  during  the  past  few 
years  have  been  devoted  to  the  Joe  Hill  case,  the  Everett 
(Washington)  shooting,  and  to  free  speech  fights  of 
dubious  value. 

**I  have  just  returned  from  a  tour  of  the  industrial 
centers  of  the  East  and  Middle  West  and  I  regret  to 
state  that  I  did  not  observe  any  tangible  or  concrete 
evidence  of  I.  W.  W.  activity.  On  the  contrary  I  noticed 
a  tendency  to  abandon  it  all  along  the  line. 

*  *  In  Chicago  I  was  amazed  to  discover  that  the  central 
body  of  trade-unions,  the  Chicago  Federation  of  Labor, 
had  amongst  its  delegates  several  men  who  were  formerly 
active  and  prominent  in  the  I.  W.  W.  These  were  W.  Z. 
Foster,  the  writer  of  pamphlets  on  syndicalism  and  some- 
time leader  on  the  Pacific  Coast;  John  A.  Jones,  once 
active  in  Butte,  the  Mesaba  Range,  and  other  metallifer- 
ous regions ;  Morris,  formerly  of  the  hotel  and  restaurant 
workers  of  New  York,  and  several  others  of  more  or  less 
importance. 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  281 

"In  New  England  I  found  only  a  remnant  of  the 
former  greatness  of  the  I.  W.  W.  Small  organizations 
in  Lawrence,  Providence,  and  one  or  two  other  cities, 
which  total  only  about  3,500  members,  comprise  the 
I.  W.  W.  of  New  England.  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  where 
the  I.  W.  W.  once  lorded  it,  has  now  an  A.  F.  of  L.  union 
which  is  larger  than  the  I.  W.  W.  local,  and  an  im- 
attached  and  independent  silk  workers'  organization. 
There  is  no  other  branch  of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  New  Jersey, 
while  the  great  State  of  New  York  has,  practically  speak- 
ing, no  I.  W.  W.  representation.  Baltimore  and  Phila- 
delphia combined  have  a  few  thousand  longshoremen  and 
freight  handlers  enrolled  in  the  I.  W.  W.  This  with  a 
few  'mixed  or  recruiting  locals'  here  and  there  sums 
up  the  I.  W.  W.  strength  east  of  Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 

"In  the  West  the  position  of  the  L  W.  W.  is  some- 
what better.  Several  thousand  farm  hands  or  agricul- 
tural laborers  are  enrolled  in  what  is  known  as  the 
Agricultural  Workers'  Organization.  All  through  the 
West  they  are  dubbed  as  'wobbUes'  and  they  have 
taken  kindly  to  the  name. 

''There  were  rumors  in  MinneapoUs  that  the  A.  W.  0. 
would  throw  overboard  Haywood,  the  general  secretary, 
or  leave  the  I.  W.  W.  altogether  and  go  it  alone. 

"Wherever  I  traveled  I  observed  that  the  I.  W.  W. 
had  no  standing  and  made  Uttle  progress  when  con- 
fronted with  American  Federation  of  Labor  opposition. 
It  only  secured  headway  in  fields  ignored  by  the  older 
organizations. 

"The  general  conclusions  I  am  compelled  to  arrive  at 
are:  that  industriahsm  is  growing  but  very  slowly;  that 
the  development  of  machinery  and  the  elimination  of 
crafts  will  be  the  chief  contributing  cause  to  the  suc- 
cessful growth  of  the  industrial  idea;   that  agitation  for 


282     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

industrialism  has  not  deeply  permeated  the  minds  of 
the  mass  of  the  workers,  though  they  in  a  general  way 
approve  of  the  outlines  of  industrialism ;  that  while  the 
A.  F.  of  L.  has  absorbed  and  is  absorbing  independent 
unions  (the  Bricklayers  is  a  notable  example)  it  is  not 
enthusiastically  adopting  the  industrial  program.  It  is 
true  that  industrial  departments  like  the  metal,  the 
mining,  the  building  trades,  etc.,  are  in  existence,  but  the 
craft  union  in  the  building  trades  still  exercises  auton- 
omy and  through  the  international  organizations  nulli- 
fies the  usefulness  of  the  departments  in  Washington. 
The  mining  trades  alone  are  industrialized,  but  more 
for  organic  than  educational  reasons. 

* '  The  failure  of  the  I.  W.  W.  can  be  laid  to  two  factors, 
viz.,  the  strength  of  the  craft  unions  and  the  unreadiness 
of  craft  union  officials  to  amalgamate ;  the  ignorance  of 
the  rank  and  file ;  abortive  and  ill-timed  strikes  conducted 
by  the  I.  W.  W. ;  opposition  to  the  industrial  idea  from 
the  press  and  the  big  interests;  and  last  and  most  im- 
portant of  all,  the  nonsensical  talk  and  acts  of  most  of 
the  I.  W.  W.  speakers  and  active  workers.  Another 
general  reason  for  the  decline  of  the  I.  W.  W.  is  the 
psychology  of  the  American  people.  They  will  not  bother 
with  failures.  *' 

In  the  autumn  of  1917  I  asked  Mr.  Quinlan  to 
explain  for  the  benefit  of  this  chapter  the  activities 
of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  the  harvest  fields  of  the  Middle 
and  Far  West.    He  replied  as  follows: 

''Extraordinary  and  peculiar  conditions  produce 
strange  results.  The  quick  settlement  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  States  by  men  of  small  capital  or  none  at  all, 
who  could  not  afford  to  provide  rooms  or  decent  accom- 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  283 

modations  for  their  temporary  employees  (harvest  work 
being  seasonal)  ;  the  constant  changes  in  the  ownership 
of  the  farms,  the  migratory  character  of  the  population, 
made  the  establishment  of  a  staple  working-class  im- 
possible, hence  the  roving  harvest  hands,  or  'wobblies,' 
who  ride  on  freight  trains  from  Oregon  to  Kansas  in 
June,  and  from  there  back  to  the  later  ripening  wheat 
fields  of  North  Dakota  and  Montana. 

*' Except  in  a  few  of  the  Middle  Western  States  those 
roving  laborers  are  compelled  to  sleep  outdoors  all  the 
time  and  are  thereby  forced  to  carry  their  own  bed 
around  with  them.  This  explains  the  term  'blanket- 
stiff.  '  None  of  the  old-established  and  responsible  trade- 
unions  would  enter  this  field  of  labor.  Some  men  who 
were  members  of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  the  cities  and  in  the 
lumber  camps  being  blacklisted  and  forced  to  seek 
work  among  the  farmers,  seeing  the  primitive  condi- 
tions obtaining,  sought  to  remedy  them  by  preaching 
the  doctrines  of  the  I.  W.  W., — but  in  the  weirdest  and 
freakiest  form.  Like  some  of  the  mediaeval  saints  they 
gloried  in  their  misery  in  being  outcasts.  Their  songs, 
notably  'Hallelujah,  I  am  a  bum,^  illustrate  finely 
this  phase  of  their  methods  and  life.  In  time  they 
developed  strength  and  with  a  fraternity  of  feeling  and 
loyalty  that  was  most  remarkable  for  a  new  and  scattered 
body  that  wages  many  fights.  They  filled  many  jails 
with  their  enthusiasts ;  they  were  often  needlessly  perse- 
cuted by  the  petty  czars  of  the  towns  of  the  West  and 
they  sometimes  brought  trouble  on  themselves  by  their 
own  foolishness. 

*'In  time  they  developed  such  strength  as  to  be  able 
to  organize  themselves  into  a  'department'  of  the  I. 
W.  W.  called  the  Agricultural  Workers'  Organization, 


284    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

or  the  A.  W.  0.,  with  its  own  officers,  plant,  etc.  It 
only  nominally  acknowledges  the  jurisdiction  of  Hay- 
wood and  the  I.  W.  W.  executive  board.  A  case  of  the 
child  growing  more  powerful  than  the  parent. 

**It  is  a  mistake  to  accuse  them  of  being  anti-war  or 
anti- American.  On  war  matters  and  war  issues  the 
members  of  the  A.  W.  0.  say:  'We  don't  give  a  hang. 
We  are  simply  trying  to  get  more  of  the  kale  for 
the  blanket-stiff  and  the  wobbly.'  They  resort  to  a  lot 
of  strange  talk  about  sabotage,  but  it  is  in  most  cases 
foam  and  froth. 

**The  majority  of  its  members  are  American  by  birth. 
If  they  fail  to  see  the  value  of  citizenship  it  is  because 
no  attempt  was  ever  made  to  give  them  the  protection 
that  should  go  with  ordered  liberty  and  statehood." 

The  problem  of  labor  organization  today  is  not 
that  of  the  skilled  craftsman  whose  scarcity  gives 
him  some  power  apart  from  his  organization  and 
whose  trade  gives  a  natural  rallying  cry.  The 
present  problem  is  how  to  gain  and  keep  indus- 
trial advantage  for  the  unskilled,  not  as  being 
ignorant  or  indolent,  but  as  being  inevitably  the 
great  mass  of  labor,  because  invention  and  ma- 
chinery are  every  day  producing  the  **fool  proof 
machine  and  are  rendering  skill  superfluous. 

Scientific  management  and  improved  machinery 
are  making  production  ampler  but  are  not  ren- 
dering distribution  more  generous.  Our  call  for 
labor  from  all  countries,  our  consequent  introduc- 
tion of  European  peasant  labor  to  industrial  enter- 
prises, our  inventiveness  and  cheapening  of  cost 


LABOR  ORGANIZATION  285 

by  machinery  with  the  tendency  of  money  wages 
to  fall,  prices  to  rise,  and  skill  to  be  less  required, 
logically  create  labor  organizations  of  the  I.  W.  W. 
type, — largely  of  the  unskilled,  the  disappointed, 
the  embittered  who  trust  only  in  their  own  efforts. 

The  problem  of  the  casual  worker  is  bound  up 
with  such  an  army  and  its  organization.  If  Amer- 
ica needs  thousands  of  men  to  reap  its  harvests 
she  cannot  ignore  them  after  the  harvests.  Among 
these  harvest  hands  are  the  college  boys  who  earn 
during  the  summer  months  money  for  their  edu- 
cation, and  can  return  to  college.  But  what  hap- 
pens to  the  rest?  Who  is  trying  to  place  themf 
To  call  them  vagrants  and  herd  them  in  bull-pens 
and  deport  them  is  fatuous  and  an  insult  to  the 
hands  that  rescued  the  food  supply  of  the  world 
from  ripening  in  vain. 

The  I.  W.  W.  have  helped  the  unskilled. 
Again,  who  has  done  anything  of  general  im- 
portance for  the  economic  benefit  of  working- 
women  and  children?  The  I.  W.  W.  by  organizing 
these  neglected  and  pitiably  weak  groups  of  work- 
ers have  become  the  representatives  of  chivalry 
in  the  labor  movement.  The  word  chivalry  comes 
from  cheval,  a  horse.  The  chivalrous  man  in  the 
old  days  was  the  knight  on  horseback — the  symbol 
of  armed  might.  The  knight  sought  to  redress 
wrongs,  especially  those  suffered  by  women  and 
the  weak.  But  in  our  modern  world  the  chival- 
rous man  is  this  ** vagrant^'  I.  W.  W.  Vagrant 
means  a  man  on  foot — a  walker,  a  wanderer. 


286    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

**The  I.  W.  W.  that  I  knew/^  says  Frank 
Tannenbaum  in  a  letter  to  me  on  this  subject, 
**I  shall  always  look  back  upon  with  the  greatest 
of  reverence.  Nowhere  have  I  found  that  ideal- 
ism, that  love  of  one^s  kind,  that  social  minded- 
ness  and  sincerity.  Nowhere  as  yet  have  I  seen 
that  willingness  of  self-sacrifice,  that  exulting  joy 
in  human  development,  that  hope  and  faith  in 
human  progress  and  in  the  possibility  of  a  more 
beautiful  life. 

**The  men  and  women  that  I  knew  in  the 
I.  W.  W. ;  the  hard-working,  rugged,  and  aspiring 
human  beings,  whose  whole  life  seemed  bound  up 
with  the  struggles  of  their  class  to  rise  above  its 
poverty  and  disorganization,  were  in  pure  human 
worth  equal  to  the  very  best  I  know. 

**The  I.  W.  W.  is  the  foreshadowing  of  a 
working-class  organization  that  in  the  face  of  cur- 
rent tendencies  seems  almost  inevitable.  The 
I.  W.  W.  as  such  may  never  complete  its  purpose 
of  organizing  a  mighty  and  powerful  industrial 
democracy,  but  it  is  serving  the  purpose  of  a 
pioneer  in  the  struggle  for  equitable  organization 
of  our  industrial  life  and  as  pioneer  it  has  suf- 
fered the  misrepresentation  and  calumnies  usually 
heaped  upon  those  who  foreshadow  the  better  and 
bigger  things  in  life.'^  * 

*For  the  philosophy  of  Syndicalism,  see  Georges  Sorel,  "Re- 
flections on  Violence." 


XIII 

THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY- 
"  MORE  DEMOCRACY  " 


The  moral  queation*s  oUus  plain  enough, — 

It*8  jes'  the  human-nature  side  that's  tough. 

Wut's  best  to  think  mayn't  puzzle  me  nor  you. 

The  pinch  comes  in  decidin'  wut  to  du; 

Ef  you  read  History,  all  runs  smooth  ez  grease, 

Coz  there  the  men  ain't  nothin'  more'n  ideas, — 

But  come  to  make  it,  ez  we  must  today, 

Th'  idees  hev  arms  an'  legs  an'  stop  the  way." 

James  Russell  Lowell, 
The  Biglow  Papers,  No.  VI. 

"  He  drew  a  circle  that  shut  me  out — 
Heretic,  rebel,  a  thing  to  flout. 
But  love  and  I  had  the  wit  to  win: 
We  drew  a  circle  that  took  him  in!  " 

Edwin  Mabkwam. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY— *^  MORE 
DEMOCRACY  ^» 

pHILLIPS  BROOKS  once  said  to  me  with 
-■■  evident  pride  that  there  was  no  line  of 
European  kings  that  in  ability  compared  with  the 
list  of  American  presidents.  Democracy  has  done 
some  things  well. 

Booker  Washington,  at  a  meeting  of  which  I 
was  chairman,  gave  a  moving  description  of  his 
early  years.  **In  the  year  1859  or  I860,'*  he 
said,  *^I  was  born  a  slave  in  Virginia'';  he  then 
went  on  to  give  the  audience  a  picture  of  his  boy- 
hood and  of  his  final  enrollment  as  a  pupil  at 
Hampton  under  General  Armstrong.  When  he 
finished,  a  little  man  in  the  audience  jumped  up, 
and  cried  out,  **Mr.  Booker  Washington  says 
that  in  1859  or  1860  he  was  born  a  slave  in  Vir- 
ginia. I  want  him  to  know  that  he  is  not  the  only 
man  in  the  room  born  a  slave.  In  1859  or  1860  I 
was  born  a  slave  in  Ireland.  It  makes  no  differ- 
ence that  he  was  a  chattel  slave  and  I  an  indus- 
trial slave — we  were  both  born  to  slavery.  The 
emancipation  of  his  race  will  not  be  complete 
until  he  has  led  it  to  industrial  freedom."  De- 
mocracy has  not  settled  all  our  problems. 


290     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Democracy  Has  not  Satisfied  Expectations 

Democracy  has  not  satisfied  expectations.  It 
countenanced  slavery  until  1863.  After  a  success- 
ful war  against  the  slave  States,  and  after  giving 
citizenship  to  the  negroes,  our  republic  permitted 
the  disfranchisement  of  millions  of  the  emanci- 
pated race.  America  contains  millions  of  paupers 
and  prostitutes.  Democracy,  then,  has  not  as  yet 
shown  the  ability  to  solve  the  problem  either  of 
poverty  or  of  happiness.  As  an  institution  it  is 
regarded  as  not  beyond  the  experimental  stage. 
We  remember  the  commotion  excited  a  genera- 
tion ago  by  James  Russell  Lowell's  phrase,  ** De- 
mocracy is  still  an  experiment. ' '  We  would  not 
become  so  hot  today  over  his  words. 

Liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  are  still  shy 
birds,  not  yet  ensnared  by  the  phrases  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  working-man 
who  depends  upon  a  political  party  for  his  job, 
who  must  live  in  a  certain  ward  or  have  taken 
from  him  the  ticket  which  places  him  on  the  pay- 
roll of  a  favored  contractor,  has  few  of  the  sen- 
sations of  a  free  man.  The  street-car  conductor 
who  is  sent  to  jail  for  knocking  down  a  fare  and 
who  sees  the  millionaire  forger  or  embezzler  go 
free,  has  little  sense  of  equality  under  democratic 
institutions.  As  for  fraternity,  if  it  is  even 
preached  from  Christian  pulpits  in  these  days, 
the  preacher  is  called  a  Socialist,  which,  perhaps, 
indicates  how  far  brotherliness  is  from  being  an 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       291 

expected  asset  either  of  Christianity  or  of  democ- 
racy. As  capital  becomes  more  reactionary,  labor 
becomes  more  clamorous. 


Democracy  Is  Used  as  a  Cloak 

Under  these  circumstances,  democracy  having 
failed  to  meet  the  general  expectation,  various 
earlier  institutions  have  fastened  themselves 
upon  democracy  as  means  for  the  immediate  at- 
tainment of  the  good  things  of  life.  The  gang, 
the  clan,  theocracy,  the  feudal  state,  the  mon- 
archy, the  oligarchy,  are  all  appealed  to  by  re- 
publican citizens  in  various  kinds  of  imperia  in 
imperioy  who  scheme  to  get  even  with  democracy 
for  their  disappointment,  or  to  use  it  as  a  cloak 
under  which  to  revive  the  earlier  and  easier 
forms. 

In  short,  inferior  forms  of  social  and  national 
organization  have  been  resorted  to  within  a  de- 
mocracy, to  secure  for  the  individual  that  meas- 
ure of  personal  safety  and  advantage  which  he 
had  hoped  democracy  itself  would  afford.  What 
can  you  expect?  Should  not  a  man  protect  himself 
in  any  way  he  can  against  the  harshness  of  life 
or  of  institutions?  If  he  cannot  have  freedom, 
equality,  and  fraternity  at  the  hands  of  the  state 
which  promises  it,  then  he  will  join  a  lower  order 
of  social  organization  within  the  state  if  it  prom- 
ises him  what  he  wants. 

There  are  many  people  who  are  not  aware  of 


292     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

their  antagonism  toward  the  state  in  which  they 
live,  and  who  hardly  may  consider  themselves  to 
belong  to  either  of  these  groups  hostile  to  de- 
mocracy. But  their  ideas  are  so  remote  from  de- 
mocracy that  they  are  on  a  lower  plane,  some- 
where between  the  savage  fighting  for  his  own 
hand  and  the  prince  protecting  his  prerogatives. 
While  in  body  they  are  members  of  a  so-called 
democracy,  in  thought  they  are  governed  by  ideas 
thousands  of  years  removed  from  democracy. 

The  Gang  a  Reversion  to  Primitive  CnriLiZATiON 

The  Bowery  tough  and  the  slugging  repeaters 
at  election  day  are  not  democrats  but  the  mental 
associates  of  naked  savages.  The  tribal  instinct 
that  collects  the  **gang"  in  the  slums,  under  a 
leader  who  has  fought  his  way  up  in  personal  en- 
counters, is  a  repetition  of  the  earliest  history  of 
civilization.  Yet  these  gangs  have  political  power 
and  are  in  fact  a  recognized  part  of  political  ma- 
chinery. Here  within  democracy  is  a  reversion  to 
the  most  primitive  type  of  human  association. 

Not  only  is  the  gang  a  travesty  upon  democ- 
racy, not  only  does  it  perform  injurious  and  un- 
lawful acts,  but  its  ethical  standards  conflict  at 
every  point  with  organized  society.  In  other 
words,  not  only  is  our  state  composed  of  frag- 
ments of  older  social  and  political  units,  but  we 
suffer  from  the  immature  ethics  that  accompany 
these  earlier  ideals.     The  gang  leader  will  not 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       293 

only  shoot  to  protect  his  lieutenant  from  arrest, 
but  when  he  himself  is  shot  he  will  not  divulge  the 
name  of  the  assailant,  reserving,  according  to  his 
code,  the  right  of  private  revenge. 

**What  are  the  chief  elements  of  the  gang 
spirit?^*  asks  Luther  Gulick.  ^^ First  and  foremost 
is  a  loyalty  to  the  other  members  of  the  gang — 
a  loyalty  which  no  consideration  of  personal  ad- 
vantage will  shake,  but  which  will  lead  to  the 
making  of  any  sacrifice  that  may  be  needed  in 
time  of  peril  for  the  sake  of  the  gang,  or  for  in- 
dividual members  of  it.  It  involves  a  willingness 
to  fight  together,  to  stand  together  under  all  con- 
ditions which  we  instinctively  call  masculine.'' 

The  Clan  Revived  in  Political  Machines 

In  notorious  political  machines  we  see  the  re- 
vival of  the  clan.  The  Celtic  blood,  Irish,  Scotch, 
or  Scotch-Irish,  of  so  many  of  our  politicians  is 
significant.  They  perpetuate  the  clan  organiza- 
tion in  America.  Ireland,  according  to  George 
Moore,  himself  an  Irishman  and  a  landowner, 
was  feudal  even  into  the  present  generation.  How 
natural,  then,  that  immigrants  from  that  country 
should  ally  themselves  in  our  great  cities  with 
that  form  of  political  organization  which  utilized 
these  enormous  sources  of  warm-hearted  loyalty 
developed  by  the  institutions  and  the  tempera- 
ment of  the  Irish  people.  Of  course,  the  result 
went    further    in    our    political    machines    than 


294     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

feudal  loyalty.  Practically,  it  represented  a  sur- 
vival within  a  democracy  of  the  clan  system, — 
unquestioning  fidelity  to  a  chief.  Indeed,  this 
name,  ** Chief,'*  is  today  one  of  the  most  popular 
among  the  sturdy  political  workers  who  receive 
their  reward  from  political  machines.  The  head 
of  every  department,  the  superior  within  the  de- 
partment, in  conversation  is  addressed  by  those 
below,  and  with  evident  relish,  as  ** Chief.**  The 
psychology  of  this  habit  is  too  patent  for  com- 
ment. 


The  Medieval  Theocracy  Persists  in  the 
Church 

Theocracy  is  a  power  in  America.  The  Roman 
Church — an  attempt  to  combine  politics  and  re- 
ligion, the  state  and  the  Christian  Church — al- 
though now  largely  stripped  of  direct  political 
power,  is  a  theocratic  government,  the  remnant 
of  a  mediaeval  state.  As  a  state,  the  Papacy  per- 
formed important  services  from  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire  in  the  West  until  the  rise  of  the 
spirit  of  nationality  in  Europe:  it  preserved  in 
itself  remnants  of  Roman  culture  and  it  over- 
awed northern  Barbarism.  Although  its  great 
political  service  is  passed,  it  continues  to  wear 
the  habit  of  a  state.  It  has  its  legates,  its  diplo- 
matic agents,  its  orders  of  nobility,  its  Swiss 
Guard,  and  what  is  more,  it  demands  as  neces- 
sary to  its  existence  temporal  power.    This  pre- 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       295 

tender  to  a  lost  throne  has  sufficient  political  fol- 
lowing to  form  a  party  in  European  as  well  as  in 
American  politics.  In  Germany  the  Catholic 
party,  the  Centrum,  is  opposed  to  parliamentary 
government.  In  England  Catholicism  has  been 
conservative,  even  financing  the  Ulster  revolution 
to  thwart  home  rule. 

The  prelates  of  the  Catholic  Church,  at  the  time 
of  its  recent  centenary  celebration  in  New  York, 
were  repeatedly  called  by  the  newspapers,  and  by 
the  Catholics  themselves,  *Hhe  Princes  of  the 
Church.  ^ '  The  flag  of  the  Papacy,  blowing  against 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  paraded  our  streets.  The 
orators  of  Catholicism  denounced  our  public 
schools,  and  lauded  the  monarchical  principles  of 
Romanism,  expressing  surprise  that  it  got  along 
so  well  with  the  democratic  principles  of  the 
United  States,  not  aware  that  Catholicism  got 
along  well  because  the  democratic  principle  has 
not  come  to  complete  self-consciousness  and  has 
meanwhile  surrendered  its  power  into  the  hands 
of  bosses  and  magnates,  who,  receiving  favors 
from  the  Church,  return  them  with  interest.  This 
monarchical  principle  in  the  Roman  Church  is 
emphasized,  too,  in  the  patents  of  nobility  given 
by  the  Pope  to  American  citizens,  who  even 
stamp  coronets  and  their  titles  upon  their  visit- 
ing cards. 


296     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Feudalism  as  Bondage  to  the  Job 

Feudalism  is  resorted  to  in  America.  The  de- 
pendence of  thousands  of  persons  for  subsistence 
upon  one  person  who  has  control  of  the  elements 
of  subsistence  for  them,  as  represented  in  land, 
mines,  or  machinery;  the  dependence  of  thou- 
sands, running  from  highly  paid  superintendents 
to  poorly  paid  laborers,  who  practically  are 
serfs,  and  are  held  by  their  poverty  to  one  part 
of  the  country,  reproduce  the  economic  effect  of 
feudalism. 

**  Bondage  to  the  land  was  the  basis  of  villain- 
age in  the  old  regime;  bondage  to  the  job  will  be 
the  basis  of  villainage  in  the  new/'  *  This  mod- 
ern feudalism  is  not  landed  or  military  but  indus- 
trial. I  knew  men  in  a  mill  city  in  Massachusetts 
who  had  never  been  on  a  railway  train  since  they 
entered  the  city  twenty  years  before.  Their  pov- 
erty tied  them  to  the  town  as  effectually  as  the 
feudal  law  tied  the  serf  to  the  soil.  Only  feudal 
instincts  have  kept  the  negro  so  long  after  his 
emancipation  upon  the  soil  of  the  South ;  the  same 
feudal  instinct  accounts  for  the  high-handed 
treatment  he  has  received — as  if  he  could  not 
at  any  time  flee  permanently  from  his  tor- 
mentors. 

Another  mark  of  feudalism  is  the  tendency  in 
great  mercantile  centers  for  owners  of  land  not 
to  sell  but  to  rent.     Their  method  is  a  feudal 

*  Ghent,  "  Our  Benevolent  Feudalism,"  p.  184. 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       297 

method.  Their  position  is  over-lordship.  That, 
in  our  modern  parlance,  a  lord  is  called  a  mil- 
lionaire or  a  captain  of  industry  makes  no  dif- 
ference. He  is  the  person  who  by  possessions 
and  power  is  able  to  demand  and  secure  the  serv- 
ices of  social  groups  below  his  own,  and  even  of 
churches  and  courts. 

Monarchy  has  been  lauded  on  American  soil 
by  such  writers  as  Munsterberg,  who  claimed 
that  the  loyalty  upon  which  a  state  depends  can 
only  be  developed  by  attachment  to  the  person 
of  a  sovereign. 

In  the  South,  the  survival  of  aristocratic  priv- 
ilege is  seen  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  suffrage 
from  the  negro  and  an  insufferable  social  and 
economic  treatment  of  them  at  last  resulting  in 
an  exodus  of  black  labor.  In  the  North,  a  new 
aristocracy  of  wealth  would  like  to  withdraw  the 
suffrage  from  the  lower  ranks  of  citizens,  and 
actually  does  curb  it  by  party  machinery. 

Actual  Slavery  Still 

We  not  only  have  in  our  so-called  democracy 
a  tribal  organization  of  gangsters,  which,  by  mur- 
der and  other  criminal  acts,  has  undermined  our 
institutions,  a  clan  political  loyalty  which  weak- 
ens the  state,  a  theocratic  institution  wielding 
some  of  the  temporal  glories  of  the  past,  a  pow- 
erful industrial  feudalism  and  the  divine  right  of 
monarchy  appealed  to;  but  something  still  more 


298     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

primitive.  We  have  actual  slavery.  Chattel 
slavery,  while  banished  by  law  from  industrial 
life,  is  still  in  existence  in  our  prisons  when  con- 
victs work  without  remuneration. 


Other  and  More  Subtle  Enemies  of  Democracy 

Democracy  has  other,  more  subtle,  enemies. 
Take,  for  instance,  Calvinism,  which  did  not  re- 
gard the  state  as  an  important  means  in  itself 
of  spiritual  salvation,  but  only  as  a  policeman  by 
which  the  behavior  of  the  individual  could  be 
made  to  conform  to  the  standards  of  religious 
rulers.  The  state,  as  a  policeman  to  carry  out 
the  mandates  of  a  theocracy  which  promises  to 
save  the  individual  who  accepts  a  certain  theol- 
ogy, is  far  from  a  modern  definition  of  democracy. 
Take  Lutheranism,  which  quashed  the  democratic 
principle  halfway  to  its  fulfillment. 

Current  illustrations  of  the  remoteness  of  the 
Church  from  democracy  are  to  be  found  in  the 
objection  raised  today  to  a  discussion  in  churches 
of  such  movements  as  Woman  Suffrage,  the  La- 
bor Problem,  and  Prohibition. 

Mysticism  and  the  idea  of  the  inner  life  is  a 
foe  to  democracy  in  so  far  as  it  urges  a  with- 
drawal from  action  and  from  contemplation  of 
the  outward  things  of  life,  in  order  to  find  in  si- 
lence and  the  secrecy  of  the  soul  a  mystic  il- 
lumination from  direct  contact  with  God.  That 
God  is  found  only  as  one  withdraws  from  his 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       299 

works  is  as  undemocratic  as  to  say  that  God  is 
found  only  through  a  theology  protected  by  a 
police  state. 

The  sacramental  system  is  also  a  foe  to  democ- 
racy, when  it  asserts  that  there  is  a  natural 
cleavage  between  the  human  and  the  divine,  only 
to  be  bridged  by  an  authoritative  hierarchy. 
Under  such  a  definition  of  life,  the  family,  as 
well  as  the  ordinary  institutions  and  organiza- 
tions of  life,  is  condemned. 

Realization    op   Disadvantages    Precedes   Inde- 
pendence 

But  it  is  of  this  very  human  stuff — condemned 
by  the  dogmatists,  fled  away  from  by  the  mystics, 
and  organized  merely  for  the  defense  of  theology 
by  ultra  Protestants,  it  is  of  this  human  life, 
with  the  family,  with  friendship,  with  business 
and  with  art,  with  law  and  also  with  religion — 
that  democracy  itself  is  made.  A  government  is 
not  to  be  deferred  until  the  governed  are  per- 
fected to  carry  on  the  machinery  of  the  state, 
but  is  perfected  in  its  very  imperfections  when 
it  is  permitted  by  experiment  to  advance  from 
one  step  to  another  of  enlightenment  and  prog- 
ress. The  excellence  of  democracy  is  not  the  su- 
perior institution  it  turns  out.  The  spiritually 
free  and  self -governed  individual  that  democracy 
utilizes  and  develops,  is  its  chief  product  and 
glory. 


300     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Inasmuch  as  all  of  us  have  been  subjected  to 
one  or  the  other  of  these  religious  influences — 
the  influences  of  Catholicism  or  Protestantism  or 
Mysticism — we  are  to  that  extent  born  foes  of 
democracy.  If,  therefore,  we  carry  over  what  we 
have  learned  from  religion  into  our  economic  at- 
titude toward  working-men,  it  is  not  at  all  sur- 
prising. The  sooner  we  realize  the  disadvantage 
of  our  religious  education — the  cowardice  of  its 
view  of  human  nature,  the  inferiority  of  its  con- 
ception of  God  and  of  his  workings,  the  essen- 
tial unbrotherliness  of  its  premises — the  sooner 
are  we  likely  to  correct  the  individualistic  Ameri- 
can position.  Then,  too,  we  shall  be  in  a  mood 
to  welcome  the  efforts  of  the  great  masses  for 
their  own  industrial  and  social  independence. 
We  shall  gladly  assist  them  not  only  to  secure 
justice  but  the  fullest  self-expression  and  the 
development  of  latent  gifts  which  can  carry  great 
benefits  to  their  fellows,  gifts  that  await  the  en- 
couragement of  better  pay,  better  health,  and 
more  leisure. 


These   Lower  Institutions   Abe   the   Foes   of 
Democbacy 

The  trouble  with  democracy,  then,  in  America 
is  that  it  has  been  seized  upon  by  a  number  of 
lower  evolutionary  social  institutions  which  are 
worrying  its  life  and  are  quite  capable  of  de- 
stroying its  life,  if  there  is  not  an  infusion  into 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       301 

democratic  blood  of  a  more  truly  democratic 
spirit.  I  make  no  doubt,  nor  would  I  waste  argu- 
ments in  proving,  that  democracy  is  a  higher 
evolutionary  form  of  government  than  the  tribe, 
the  clan,  feudalism,  monarchy,  or  theocracy.  But 
it  can  only  proceed  upon  its  way  by  killing  these 
inferior  forms  that  gnaw  upon  its  intestines. 
Democracy  must  become  more  the  thing  it 
claims  to  be.  The  profoundest  psychology  of  to- 
day is  almost  based  upon  the  emancipation  of  the 
individual  from  parental  domination ;  upon  revolt 
from  authority;  upon  the  perception  of  a  law  of 
being  and  free  obedience. 

The  Cure  for  This  Political  Disease  Is  More 
Democracy 

The  cure  for  this  disease,  this  cancer  of  de- 
mocracy, is  more  democracy;  more  vital  life- 
blood  for  the  organism  itself.  Disease  in  the  hu- 
man body  is  discovered  to  be  due  to  the  presence 
of  germs.  Laboratories  have  photographed  a 
good  many  of  these  germs,  and  have  studied 
them  with  care.  They  turn  out  to  be  living 
things  which  once  had  a  certain  right  to  their 
lives,  but  which  higher  organisms  successfully 
passed  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  These  mi- 
nute and  early  forms  of  life  now  attach  them- 
selves as  parasites  to  the  higher  organisms, 
which,  devitalized  or  weakened  by  accident,  by 
labor,  by  anxiety,  by  luxury,  become  a  prey  to 


302     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

the  attacks  of  that  which  as  a  form  of  life  is 
infinitely  inferior  to  itself. 

There  are  two  cures  for  disease:  to  kill  the 
germ  directly  or  to  make  the  body  upon  which 
the  germ  has  fastened  so  freshly  strong  that  it 
throws  off  or  destroys  by  its  own  operation  the 
perilous  foe  living  upon  it.  This  latter  should 
be  democracy's  cure.  The  true  elements  of  its 
ideal  must  make  it  so  freshly  strong  that  it 
sloughs  off  these  earlier  forms  of  political  and 
social  life  which  are  inferior  to  it,  but  which 
flourishing  within  it,  if  permitted  to  have  their 
way,  will  be  the  destruction  of  the  later  and 
higher  embodiments  of  the  hopes  of  humanity. 

We  discover,  then,  that  the  United  States  of 
America,  a  constitutional  democracy,  is  preyed 
upon  by  rudimentary  social  organisms,  survivals 
of  all  the  primitive  institutions  of  human  society. 
They  are  perceived  in  our  midst  not  as  archaeo- 
logical exhibits  but  as  powerful  and  militant 
bodies  which  fight  to  secure  privileges  and  posi- 
tion by  methods  of  intrigue  and  iniquity,  regard- 
less of  the  ideals  and  the  methods  of  a  republic. 

The  cure  for  all  these  rudimentary  survivals 
within  our  democracy  of  past  political  forms — 
the  gang,  the  clan,  feudalism,  theocracy,  aristoc- 
racy— is  to  have  more  democracy.  The  machine 
politician  utilizes  all  these  undemocratic  forces; 
if  successful  he  rewards  his  helpers  at  the  pub- 
lic expense,  who  thereby  fasten  themselves  more 
deeply  into  the  body  politic.    They  have  a  right 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       303 

to  get  on  in  America,  but  not  at  the  expense  of 
the  life-blood  of  the  state. 


The  Contribution  of  the  Jew 

The  possibility  of  this  infusion  of  a  truer  and 
full-blooded  democracy  into  the  spectral  throne 
upon  which  since  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence we  have  been  trying  to  live,  seems  likely  to 
be  helped  forward  very  materially  by  that  race 
which  has  come  to  us  in  large  numbers  of  late, 
the  Hebrew.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  He- 
brews in  New  York  during  the  last  ten  years 
have,  generally  speaking,  cast  their  votes  and 
voices  in  favor  of  the  reform  movements.  The 
Hebrew  people  have  small  sense  of  leadership. 
This  is  a  piece  of  good  fortune.  If  they  had  a 
sense  of  leadership,  they  would  join  the  clan,  or 
the  hurrah  for  the  feudal  lord,  or  kiss  the  hand 
of  theocracy.  Some  of  them,  as  it  is,  have 
aligned  themselves  with  powerful  organizations. 
But  the  ancientness  of  Hebrew  civilization,  the 
very  antiquity  of  their  political  life,  has  carried 
the  race  as  a  whole  beyond  political  organization. 

They  represent  a  moral  rather  than  a  military 
national  ideal;  principles  are  dearer  to  them 
than  military  or  political  force.  Their  career  has 
made  them  individualistic.  They  occupy  an  in- 
tellectual censorship  far  higher  than  either  the 
boss  or  the  baron  has  ever  dreamed,  and  it  is 
this  coming  of  the  intellectuals,  professional,  and 


304     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE    WORKERS 

brainy  folk,  who  do  not  hark  back  to  out-worn 
social  forms  but  forward  to  match  their  ideas 
with  new  forms,  that  promises  so  much  to  Ameri- 
can politics.  I  expect  to  see  the  Jew  almost  the 
savior  of  American  ideas.  He  will  take  them 
out  of  the  theoretical  stage — where  a  good  citizen 
is  presented  with  liberty  and  at  the  same  time 
is  smothered  under  conditions  which  prevent  its 
expression  and  enjoyment, — he  will  fashion  dem- 
ocratic institutions  so  that  their  liberties  may  be 
enjoyed  by  all. 

The  grand  method  of  democracy  is  to  draw 
wider  and  wider  circles  of  inclusiveness.  When 
a  democracy  is  unable  to  draw  a  new  circle  by  its 
sympathy  with  enlarging  human  needs,  its  day  is 
done;  the  momentum  which  originated  it  has 
failed.  Not  to  shut  out  or  lock  up  those  who 
criticize  it  from  within  its  own  body,  but  to  ex- 
pand its  institutions  by  the  spirit  of  larger  justice 
until  they  embrace  the  wills  and  affections  of 
those  who  thought  themselves  left  out — is  its  way. 

Nor  is  this  method  sentimental  or  academic.  It 
has  been  practically  the  method  of  English  politi- 
cal development  from  the  earliest  time.  An  Amer- 
ican is  astonished  to  learn  that  during  a  large 
part  of  the  middle  ages  the  government  of  London 
and  the  great  English  boroughs — the  pattern  of 
our  own  city  government — included  the  industrial 
worker  with  all  his  problems  and  complaints.  He 
was  first  a  member  of  a  guild  before  he  could  be- 
come a  citizen.      What  is  more  surprising,  the 


THE  CURE  FOR  DEMOCRACY       305 

London  aldermen,  for  a  considerable  period,  were 
the  masters  of  guilds — almost  what  we  should  call 
labor  leaders — at  any  rate,  head  of  unions  of 
craftsmen.  In  this  way  medieval  England  at- 
tempted to  continue  for  its  artisans  a  status  and 
an  influence  in  public  affairs. 


The  Variety  in  Democracy  Must  Be  Directed 

If  the  production  of  variety  is  Nature's  effort, 
as  shown,  for  instance,  in  the  value  of  two  sexes 
over  one  sex,  in  the  results  of  selection  and  en- 
vironment, then  democracy  is  an  enormous  instru- 
ment in  Nature's  hand,  for  it  produces  a  greater 
variety  than  any  other  form  of  government. 
Further,  it  can  be  said  as  applying  to  the  United 
States,  that  a  democracy  built  up  of  **  sovereign 
states''  affords  a  greater  means  of  securing 
variety  than  a  solitary  state  with  only  one  im- 
portant legislative  body. 

But  the  object  of  variety  is  not  satisfied  in 
itself.  Nature  is  not  trying  merely  to  produce 
as  many  different  sorts  of  a  thing  as  possible. 
Nature  is  creating  variety  in  order  that  the  best 
may  be  saved  as  seed,  to  produce  the  future. 
Democracy  must  not  be  satisfied  when  it  produces 
the  greatest  number  of  different  individuals  or 
of  institutions.  Democracy  must  fix  its  gains,  it 
must  select  and  perpetuate  the  best  type  of  its 
individuals  and  of  its  experimental  institutions, 
tried  out  in  dozens  of  States. 


306    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE    WORKERS 

The  Means — the  Federal  Legislature 

The  Federal  legislature  in  a  large  way  must 
be  the  instrument  of  this  progressive  policy.  If 
we  want  to  know  at  what  point  progress  can  be 
discovered  in  the  moment  of  birth,  it  should  be 
mainly  expected  in  Congress,  which  selects  the 
most  successful  of  the  various  State  experiments, 
and  establishes  it  as  the  law  of  the  land.  Con- 
sequently, the  Constitution,  or  its  interpretation, 
must  expand  to  meet  this  legislative  progress,  if 
the  enormous  advantage  of  forty-eight  experi- 
mental stations  in  politics,  and  the  incredible  ad- 
vantage of  110,000,000  individual  American  ex- 
perimenters are  to  be  coined  into  concrete  insti- 
tutional improvement. 

**He  that  will  not  apply  new  remedies  must  expect 
new  evils;  for  time  is  the  greatest  innovator.  And  if 
time,  of  course,  alters  things  to  the  worse,  and  wisdom 
and  council  shall  not  alter  them  to  the  better,  what 
shall  be  the  end?"* 

*Lord  Bacon's  "History  of  Life  and  Death." 


XIV 

WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT- 
INDUSTRIAL  SELF-GOVERNMENT 


"Thou  Trade!  thou  king  of  the  modern  days! 
Change  thy  ways, 
Change  thy  ways; 
Let  the  sweaty  laborers  file 
A  little  while, 
A  little  while, 
Where  Art  and  Nature  sing  and  smile.*' 
Sidney  Lanieb, 

The  Symphony. 

"  I  submit  that  the  working  class  have  as  much  right  as  any 
section  or  class  in  the  community  to  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of 
science,  art  and  literature.  No  field  of  knowledge,  no  outlook  in 
life  should  be  closed  against  the  workers.  They  should  demand 
their  share  in  the  effulgence  of  life  and  all  that  was  created  for 
the  enjoyment  of  mankind. 

"...  the  working  class  must  be  free,  not  only  economically 
but  intellectually." 

J.  Labkin, 

quoted  by  William  English  Walling,  in 

The  Socialism  of  Today,  p.  306. 

"  The  natural  impulse  of  every  social  body  is  to  harmonize  the 
various  forces  of  which  it  is  composed.  All  strife  or  dissonance 
between  these  forces  is  an  indication  of  disease. 

"  Every  revolution  is  an  attempt  to  co-ordinate  the  springs  of 
social  progress,  an  attempt  to  obtain  recognition  for  an  hitherto 
neglected  element,  and  to  procure  for  that  element  its  rightful 
place  in  the  constitution  of  the  power  that  governs  the  national 
edifice." 

Mazzini, 
Life  and  Writings,  Vol.  I,  pp.  156,  157. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT— IN- 
DUSTRIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 

TN  the  United  States  the  lines  are  becoming 
-■■  more  closely  drawn  between  individualism 
and  socialism;  the  fears  of  capital  are  more  evi- 
dent; the  convictions  of  socialists,  in  spite  of 
party  differences,  more  confident.  Several  mon- 
eyed organizations,  as  well  as  weighty  personali- 
ties, have  entered  the  field  openly  or  secretly 
against  socialism.  Eminent  ecclesiastics  have 
organized  a  militant  anti-socialistic  union.  Ru- 
mors are  now  heard  that  fearing  the  progress 
of  socialism  as  a  result  of  international  disorder 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  financial  interests  are 
working  together  for  a  speedy  peace. 

Is  A  Fight  in  America  Against  Socialism 
Wise? 

Is  not  this  marshaling  of  forces  hasty  and  in- 
judicious ?  Does  a  lining  up  of  capitalists  against 
socialists  show  a  sufficient  understanding  of  so- 
cialism and  of  democracy?  Millionaires  who 
band  together  to  fight  socialism  certainly  do  not 
appear  to  appreciate  their  own  power.     What- 

309 


310     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

ever  socialism  is,  socialists  are,  for  the  most 
part,  unsuccessful  folk  or  they  are  dreamers  and 
philanthropists — people  with  a  lot  of  imagina- 
tion, pity,  and  liking  for  mankind.  Wealth  is  so 
powerful  that,  if  it  consulted  its  own  dignity,  it 
would  neglect  such  critics.  Through  the  control 
of  the  institutional  side  of  life,  it  can  silence 
their  voices  when  it  will,  and  so  can  afford  to 
listen  long  to  discover  if  they  speak  truth  or 
falsehood. 

**The  eagle  suffers  little  birds  to  sing, 

And  is  not  careful  what  they  mean  thereby, 

Knowing  that  with  the  shadow  of  his  wing 
He  can  at  pleasure  stint  their  melody." 

An  appeal  of  our  times — not  drawn  from  the 
field  of  ethics,  but  from  the  hunting  field,  or 
wherever  chance  and  danger  may  be  faced  for 
the  sheer  sake  of  audacious  combat — is,  *^Be  a 
Sport!*'  What  a  large  opportunity  lies  open  to 
the  sportsman  in  social  controversy!  Sympa- 
thetic attention  paid  the  poor  man's  view  of  life 
by  rich  men,  would  be  the  ** sportiest"  of  propo- 
sitions. Their  generosity  towards  the  weak,  their 
confidence  in  reason  and  justice,  their  support  of 
free  discussion,  their  wager  of  power  and  wealth 
upon  the  result — in  short,  their  courage  would 
excite  our  admiration.  Years  of  training  in  col- 
lege athletics  and  expensive  sports,  on  sea  and 
land,  seem  fruitless,  if  the  sportsman  when  con- 
fronted by  human  problems  is  panic-stricken  and 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     311 

denies  his  opponent  a  chance;  but  silences  him, 
starves  him,  sandbags  him. 


Socialism  Is  at  Least  Genuine 

Socialism,  however  erroneous,  is  a  serious 
and  enthusiastic  attempt  to  solve  pressing  eco- 
nomic problems.  The  ** Labor  Question'*  Sydney 
Brooks  calls  one  of  *  insoluble  conundrums. '* 
Let  us  Yankees  try  to  **  guess  *'  it.  Our  attack 
therefore,  had  better  be  made  upon  the  problem 
itself  or  upon  those  who  are  indifferent  to  it. 
Mr.  Taft  is  wrong.  Socialism  is  not  our  great- 
est problem.  The  economic  conditions  that  excite 
socialists  and  many  anti-socialists  are  our  great- 
est problem — ^namely:  the  anomaly  of  a  demo- 
cratic state  and  an  absolutist  industrial  system 
living  together. 

Conspicuous  opposition  to  socialism  contributes 
to  the  very  method  by  which  socialism  claims  it 
will  triumph.  Extreme  socialists  exult  at  every 
fresh  demarcation  between  them  and  their  ad- 
versaries. By  making  more  clean-cut  their  dif- 
ferences, and  by  forcing  into  opposing  ranks  so- 
cialists and  non-socialists,  the  ''class  struggW 
is  accentuated  and  promoted,  which  the  followers 
of  Marx  prophesy  will  produce  the  disruption  of 
society — **the  social  revolution'' — and  clear  the 
way  for  a  socialistic  state. 


312     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

Socialism  Is  not  Vandalism 

Socialists  whom  I  know  do  not  itch  to  lay 
hands  upon  other  people's  property  or  to  reduce 
everybody  to  a  dead  level  of  pay.  They  want 
what  most  men  want — ^working  and  living  condi- 
tions favorable  to  good  health.  They  also  want 
opportunities  for  their  children  and  they  want 
leisure  for  the  enjoyment  of  nature,  music,  and 
art.  Our  problem,  then,  is  not  how  to  fight  an 
**ism'' — **  socialism  *' — but  how  to  arrange  mat- 
ters so  as  to  give  poor  men  and  women  more  of 
what  we  all  hunger  for — the  joy  of  life. 

The  socialists  whom  I  hear  are  mild  in  their 
demands.  They  wish  to  be  sure  of  work,  and 
they  hope  for  such  an  organization  of  industry 
in  the  future  that  their  children  may  be  sure  of 
work.  They  do  not  ask  to  be  supported  by  any- 
body's labor  except  their  own,  or  to  have  their 
children  supported  by  anybody's  labor  except 
their  own. 

The  new  order  of  things,  if  it  come,  will  not  be 
directly  produced  by  socialists,  but  by  their  foes. 
** Class  struggle,"  ** surplus  values,"  **the  eco- 
nomic interpretation  of  history" — Marxian  for- 
mulas that  express  half-truths — are  not  the  open 
sesame  to  a  lovelier  industrial  future.  So,  in 
fighting  socialism,  the  conservative  classes  are 
facing  in  the  wrong  direction.  Their  enemies  are 
of  their  own  household.  Current  legislation  in- 
dicates the  lines  of  future  advances — what  might 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     313 

be  called  the  liquidation  of  privilege.  Public 
Service  Commissions,  Rates  Commissions,  Cor- 
poration Tax  Laws,  Income  Taxes,  and  not  so- 
cialistic platforms,  will,  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
be  responsible  for  our  economic  reforms.  Notice 
the  list  of  Federal  Commissions  that  a  few  years 
ago  would  have  been  thought  socialistic:  Civil 
Service  Commission,  Eight-Hour  Day  Commis- 
sion, Federal  Reserve  Board,  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission, Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Na- 
tional Forest  Reservation  Commission,  United 
States  Board  of  Mediation  and  Conciliation,  Fed- 
eral Farm  Loan  Board. 

Socialists  when  they  deal  with  political  pro- 
grams ask,  in  their  simplicity,  for  such  extreme 
and  revolutionary  changes  that  they  frighten  the 
average  citizen,  whether  capitalist  or  wage-earner, 
and  for  this  reason  they  cannot  soon  secure  an 
overwhelming  following.  They  are  firing  at  a 
target  so  far  away  that  they  do  not  hit  it.  But 
while  socialists  are  absorbed  in  this  harmless 
game  of  long-distance  and  ineffective  firing,  our 
statesmen  of  practical  sagacity  and  popular  in- 
stinct may,  by  close  range  and  effective  shots, 
weaken  monopoly  and  privilege. 

Public  Regulation,  not  Socialism,  Will  Limit 
Capital 

For  instance,  the  limitation  and  even  the  pub- 
lic ownership  of  capital  are  not  likely  to  be  af- 


314     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

fected  by  socialism,  but  by  public  regulation  of 
monopoly.  When  the  highest  profits  are  at  last 
secured  by  trusts  and  pools,  which  practically 
destroy  competition,  the  next  move  of  the  con- 
sumer will  be  to  control  by  law  the  rates  and 
prices  of  such  combinations  of  capital.  But 
publicly  controlled  capital  will  have  a  tendency 
to  become  publicly  owned,  because  investors, 
afraid  of  an  increased  public  control  of  property, 
with  a  consequent  reduction  of  profits,  will  not 
buy  the  securities.  This  tendency  is  already  seen 
in  some  public  utilities. 

Socialism  Protests  the  Individual's 
Helplessness 

Again,  the  industrial  battle  today  is  not  be- 
tween socialism  and  individualism,  as  recent 
prospectuses  announce.  Socialism  is  a  new  form 
of  individualism,  which  offers  what  Jeffersonian- 
ism  supposed  it  gave  when  most  Americans  were 
farmers — an  equal  chance  to  individuals.  Social- 
ists wish  to  make  the  government  an  umpire  who 
will  see  that  every  one  has  a  fair  chance;  only, 
to  prevent  the  umpire  from  being  biased  by  evil 
influences,  socialists  propose  to  make  the  umpire 
more  powerful  than  the  influences. 

The  one  point  to  which  the  socialistic  criticism 
of  the  present  industrial  regime  continually  re- 
turns is  that  of  the  wage-earner's  industrial 
helplessness — now  that  he  must  secure  the  con- 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     315 

sent  of  the  owner  of  machinery  and  of  tools  be- 
fore he  can  have  work  or  wages.  The  wage- 
earner  is  called  ^*  a  proletarian/'  **a  child  of  the 
abyss/'  ^^a  wage-slave.''  The  socialistic  outcry 
is  largely  the  human  insistence  upon  individual 
importance  and  individual  value  in  the  face  of 
this  modern  industrial  helplessness.  It  demands 
more  than  a  trade-union  or  an  industrial  union 
behind  the  individual;  it  demands  the  whole  or- 
ganization of  the  state  behind  the  individual. 

Why  Drive  Sympathizers  into  Further  Revolt! 

Many  religious  persons  call  themselves  social- 
ists because  they  believe  that  gross  misery,  ig- 
norance, and  injustice  exist  which  can  readily  be 
remedied.  These  persons  are  not  theoretical  so- 
cialists, not  Marxians,  but  keen  well-wishers  of 
humanity,  who  are  convinced  that  life  needs  to 
be  rationalized  and  who  are  warmed  by  the  in- 
tensity, comradeship,  and  hopefulness  of  the  so- 
cialist propaganda.  If  there  were  a  thorough- 
going fight  made  against  socialism,  these  persons 
would  be  liable  to  join  the  socialist  party. 

Many  writers  and  professional  men  confess  to 
each  other  that  they  are  socialists  at  heart. 
Would  it  be  wise  to  drive  them  to  the  necessity 
of  absolute  definition? 

Many  clerks,  financial  managers,  even  business 
men  who  have  made  their  money  in  slow  and  con- 
servative fashion,  are  more  sympathetic  with  the 


316     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

complaints  and  cures  of  socialism  than  trust 
magnates  and  high  financiers  imagine.  Ought 
they,  by  a  still  greater  sympathy  with  the  **  under 
dog,''  to  be  turned  over  bodily  to  the  socialist 
party! 

Then  there  are  the  thousands  of  intellectual 
young  men,  college  graduates,  observant,  trav- 
eled, kept  out  of  pulpits  by  distrusted  creeds, 
whom  we  ought  not  to  throw  into  further  revolt. 
They  contemplate  our  social  wilderness  with  as 
much  confident  strength  as  a  pioneer  contem- 
plated the  forests  that  were  to  yield  a  place  for 
his  home  and  fields  of  corn.  These  young  men 
can  live  on  little;  they  despise  social  ambition; 
they  cannot  be  frightend,  and  they  ransack  the 
world  for  sociological  facts.  You  meet  them  at 
the  settlement-houses,  upon  philanthropic  com- 
mittees, at  your  State  capitol  opposing  bills  in- 
jurious to  the  workers,  in  meetings  where  speak- 
ers say  what  they  think,  often  in  missions  and 
parish-houses  where  there  is  practical  work  be- 
ing done  for  the  poor.  These  youths  seem  al- 
ways to  be  singing  Whitman's  hymn: 

Have  the  elder  races  halted? 
Do  they  droop  and  end  their  lesson,  wearied  over  there 

beyond  the  seas? 
We  take  up  the  task  eternal,  and  the  burden  and  the 
lesson — 

Pioneers,  0  Pioneers ! 

Now  this  marching  song  of  democracy  is  echoed 
by  a  vast  antiphonal  in  China  and  in  Russia.  The 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     317 

elder  races  have  rushed  forward;  it  is  the  new 
world  that  halts. 


Disloyalty  and  Ingratitude  Are  Today  the 
Characteristics  of  the  Working-classes  as 
Experienced  by  Their  Employers. 

The  newspaper-reading  public  and  conserva- 
tive business  men,  when  confronted  by  the  labor 
problem,  are  often  confused  by  the  behavior  of 
working-men  toward  employers  famous  for  their 
kindness.  During  the  Pullman  strike  it  was 
hard  for  the  public  to  understand  how  the  em- 
ployees of  the  company  could  be  so  hostile  and 
could  commit  acts  of  violence.  Had  not  Mr. 
Pullman  given  them  an  ideal  town  to  live  in,  all 
at  his  own  expense? 

A  like  wonderment  beheld  the  strike  of  the 
National  Cash  Register  employees,  at  Daylon, 
Ohio,  where  John  H.  Patterson  and  his  associates 
had  done  everything  they  could  think  of  to  make 
the  inside  and  the  outside  of  their  factories  at- 
tractive, and  to  brighten  and  enrich  the  lives  of 
their  employees;  where  the  employers  were  as 
proud  of  their  services  to  their  employees  and  to 
the  community  as  they  were  proud  of  their  busi- 
ness success — employers  who  almost  broke  their 
hearts  over  the  ingratitude  of  their  work-people. 

Similar  cases  are  so  numerous  that  J.  Thayer 
Lincoln,  a  distinguished  graduate  of  Har^^ard,  a 
sympathizer  with  working-men,  whom  he  knows, 


318     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

both  as  a  manufacturer  and  as  a  philanthropist, 
makes  this  deliberate  statement, — **In  my  per- 
sonal experience,  the  man  who  is  most  thoroughly 
hated  by  his  employees  is  the  man  who  has  the 
physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  welfare  of  his 
working-men  most  at  heart. ' '  * 

The  working-man  is  certainly  ungrateful,  and 
ingratitude  is  that  fault  in  the  poor  which 
philanthropists  can  least  endure.  Among 
amateur  religious  and  philanthropic  workers 
there  is  a  constant  secession,  due  to  their 
disgust  at  the  lack  of  gratitude  shown  by 
their    beneficiaries. 

Gratitude  is  not  a  test  of  beneficence  and 
ought  not  to  be  expected.  It  puts  the  giver  upon 
a  pedestal  and  the  recipient  upon  his  knees.  Even 
great  natures  do  not  easily  discover  gratitude 
among  their  virtues.  Goethe  found  gratitude  so 
difficult  that,  when  he  was  a  young  man,  he  culti- 
vated it  by  special  exercise.  Seated  in  his  room, 
he  recalled  to  mind  the  friends  and  relatives  who 
had  given  him  the  objects  his  eyes  beheld,  and 
thereupon  he  mentally  thanked  them.  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Johnson  and  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  became 
friends  over  the  discovery  of  their  mutual  an- 
tipathy to  gratitude.  In  a  house  where  they  were 
both  calling  and  met  for  the  first  time,  a  lady  of 
the  company  continually  bemoaned  the  death  of 
a  friend.  **At  any  rate,  madam,'*  broke  in  Sir 
Joshua,  *^you  have  been  relieved  of  a  burden  of 

♦  « The  City  of  the  Dinner  Pail,"  p.  78. 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     319 

gratitude/'  It  was  this  astute  reading  of 
human  nature  by  the  painter  that  won  Dr. 
Johnson.  They  walked  away  from  the  house 
together. 

Ingratitude  is  as  common  among  the  needy 
as  among  self-respecting  working-men.  A  com- 
mon explanation  fits  both  cases:  More  than  two 
thousand  years  ago  Aristotle  read  the  philan- 
thropist's riddle  when  he  pointed  out  that  grati- 
tude is  less  keen  than  benevolence,  because  it  is 
more  agreeable  to  give  than  to  receive.  The 
benefactor  enjoys  himself  more  than  the  benefi- 
ciary.* 

Workers  Want  Better  Wages,  not  Uplift 

But  a  more  economic  and  personal  explanation 
of  the  working-man's  ingratitude  can  be  found. 
The  working-man's  great  complaint  today  is  his 
helplessness,  and  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  what- 
ever increases  this  sense  of  helplessness  will 
really  increase  his  outcry.  Working-men  don't 
like  to  have  things  done  for  them.  The  more 
that  is  done  for  them,  the  more  they  feel  in  the 
power  of  the  person  who  is  responsible  even  for 
their  benefits. 

Paradoxically  enough,  whatever  the  man  of 
power,  the  capitalist,  the  employer,  does  out  of  a 
good  heart  or  philanthropic  intent  or  even  from 
shrewd  business  perception,  to  alleviate,  as  he 

•  "  Ethics,"  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  VII. 


320     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

supposes,  the  hardships  of  his  working-people — 
by  good  tenements,  by  kindergartens,  by  factory 
lunch-rooms,  by  lectures,  garden  villages,  etc., 
etc.,  etc. — he  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  making  his 
working-men  feel  their  dependence,  with  the  re- 
sult that  some  of  the  most  serious  explosions  of 
indignation  have  taken  place  amid  the  fairest  en- 
vironment that  can  surround  the  conditions  of 
toil. 

There  is  another  reason  for  the  working-man's 
ingratitude  to  his  employer.  Working-men  say 
that  if  corporations  can  afford  these  extras,  these 
adornments  and  additions  to  the  comfort  of  their 
people,  then  they  can  afford  to  give  better  wages. 
Of  the  two  methods  of  distributing  a  surplus,  the 
working-man  prefers  the  latter.  He  would  rather 
take  his  chances  in  an  ordinary  factory  with 
higher  pay  and  use  the  addition  to  his  income  as 
he  pleases. 

In  other  words,  the  working-man  realizes,  or, 
at  any  rate,  asserts,  that  he  himself  is  paying 
for  the  improved  tenements,  for  the  parks,  for 
the  libraries,  for  the  comforts  and  conveniences 
of  the  superior  factories,  for  kindergartens,  for 
lessons  in  cooking,  for  lectures,  for  flower-gar- 
dens, for  flower-boxes  outside  the  windows,  for 
baths,  etc.  While  he  is  meeting  the  cost  of  these 
advantages,  he  finds  the  world  at  large  praising 
his  employer  as  a  notable  philanthropist,  and  in 
his  heart  he  regards  this  as  a  sham.  At  all  events 
he  would  rather  be  his  own  philanthropist. 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     321 

The  industrial  system  that  depends,  in  the 
last  resort,  upon  gratitude,  is  a  psychological 
mistake.  Something  more  dependable  than  grati- 
tude should  prevent  strikes  and  preserve  intact 
industrial  organization.  The  bond  in  economic 
life  that  holds  employer  and  employee  cannot  be 
a  weak  and  winged  virtue;  it  must  be  something 
reliable  and  strong.  Gratitude  cannot  be  the  ce- 
ment between  classes  in  a  democracy. 

The  Working-man,  Whether  He  Has  Reasons 
FOR  Gratitude  or  not.  Is  Certainly  not  Loyal 
TO  His  Employers. 

''Take  any  of  our  great  and  successful  establish- 
ments (says  the  American  Foundry  man)  and  get  into 
touch  with  the  management,  and  you  will  find  the  uni- 
versal complaint  of  the  disloyalty  of  the  men.  See 
the  men,  on  the  other  hand,  and  you  will  find  the 
irritation  due  to  the  arbitrary  and  unjust  treatment, 
the  existence  of  conditions  repugnant  to  an  independ- 
ent spirit,  etc.  One  need  not  then  wonder  why  often- 
times the  percentage  of  changes  in  the  shop  organiza- 
tion amounts  to  over  one  hundred  per  cent,  annually. 
How  much  greater  would  have  been  the  success  of  the 
business  pecuniarily,  as  well  as  the  prosperity  of  the 
community,  had  more  attention  been  given  to  the  feel- 
ings of  the  actual  wage-earner.'** 

Many  employers  do  not  know  how  to  be  em- 
ployers.   They  may  know  a  trade  or  a  business ; 

*  Transactions  of  the  American  Foundryman's  Association, 
p.  197. 


322     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

they  may  have  saved  money  or  get  credit;  but 
they  do  not  understand  business  administration. 
Capital  and  craftsmanship  do  not  make  a  cap- 
tain of  industry.  Business  administration  is  an 
art  in  itself;  if  it  were  more  generally  under- 
stood by  employers,  there  would  be  less  labor 
trouble. 

Loyalty  is  an  old,  clan  spirit,  and  attached  a 
man  to  a  man  of  his  own  blood  who  was  his 
chieftain;  it  attached  the  subject  to  a  king  as  to 
a  God-given  leader  and  protector.  Industrial 
conditions  do  not  reproduce  this  relationship. 
The  employer  and  employee  do  not  acknowledge 
identity  of  interest.  They  treat  each  other,  on 
the  whole,  as  enemies.  Labor  is  regarded  as  a 
** commodity''  to  be  purchased  by  capital.  How 
can  you  expect  loyalty  from  a  commodity! 

The  Way  Out — Self-Government  in  Industry 

If  one  listens  for  any  length  of  time  to  work- 
ing-men discussing  these  matters  he  discovers 
that  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  not  an  **  in- 
soluble conundrum,*'  but  a  simple  and  logical 
step.  It  is  nothing  less  than  an  application  of 
self-government  to  industry, — the  utilization  of 
the  spirit  of  independence. 

Democracy,  in  its  principle,  accords  with  the 
modern  conception  of  divine  activity,  which  is  a 
working  from  within,  not  from  without.  The  old 
idea  of  God  as  sovereign,  sitting  outside  of  crea- 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     323 

tion  and  ruling  it,  furnished  a  prototype  for  the 
divine  authority  of  kings;  in  fact,  for  all  arbi- 
trary power.  The  idea  of  a  god  inside  the  uni- 
verse, ruling  through  the  laws  of  nature,  the 
modern  position,  is  the  prototype  for  self-gov- 
ernment. This  centrifugal  force  is  the  method 
of  democracy — it  issues  from  within  the  ranks 
of  people  and  not  from  a  privileged  position 
outside. 

When  an  industrial  magnate  claims  to  run  his 
enterprises  by  ^Mivine  right,''  he  is  logical,  for 
our  industrialism  is  still  under  absolutism  and 
has  not  passed  into  the  democratic  or  self-gov- 
erning stage.  In  religion  and  in  politics  we  have 
largely  turned  to  a  theory,  and  to  some  extent 
to  a  practice,  where  sovereignty  operates  from 
within  rather  than  from  without.  Can  it  be  more 
than  a  matter  of  time  when  this  philosophy  and 
practice  shall  govern  industry? 

Our  best  educators  have  given  up  the  effort  to 
secure  discipline  by  the  exercise  of  authority 
from  above,  and  are  attempting  to  produce  a 
maturer  attitude  toward  conduct  on  the  part 
of  their  pupils,  by  leaving  discipline  more  in 
the  hands  of  the  students  themselves.  They 
have  met  with  most  encouraging  results,  and 
student  committees  manage  the  morals  of 
universities.  i 

Thirty  years  ago  the  participation  by  **  Har- 
vard men*'  in  the  Republican  Presidential  Torch- 
Light  Procession  through  the  streets  of  Boston 


324     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

was  something  of  an  orgy,  ending  in  a  fight.  I 
saw  the  Taft  procession.  It  was  like  an  Anniver- 
sary Day  parade  of  the  Brooklyn  Sunday  Schools. 
I  was  so  astonished  that  I  inquired  the  reason. 
The  whole  matter,  it  seems,  had  been  taken  up 
by  the  class  presidents, — students, — ^who  put  the 
men  on  their  honor,  with  the  sober  and  well- 
behaved  results  I  beheld.  If  self-government 
among  young,  hot-blooded  students  can  do  that, 
it  can  do  anything. 

Illustrations  of  the  successful  working  of  the 
principle  of  self-government  in  unexpected  direc- 
tions are  becoming  very  numerous.  The  Self- 
Governing  Committee  under  its  high-minded  and 
able  chairman,  Richard  Welling,  has  extended  the 
method  of  self-government  to  the  discipline  of 
scores  of  public  schools  and  is  in  communication 
with  hundreds  of  schools  throughout  the  country 
desiring  this  method  of  dealing  with  school 
discipline. 

**  Pupil  co-operation  in  the  management  of 
various  vocational  activities,  as  practiced  in  the 
Gary  schools,"  says  Mr.  Welling,  ^^must  also 
tend  to  breed  that  community  spirit  from  which 
some  day  we  may  hope  to  see  a  wise  and  sane 
collectivism  in  the  state. ' '  * 

At  Gary  there  is  a  student  council  through 
which  school  decisions  and  matters  of  discipline 
are  registered.     The  Mutual  Welfare  League  of 

•  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association,  Oakland, 
Cal.,  August,   1915,   p.    110. 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     325 

Sing  Sing  Prison,  founded  by  Thomas  Mott  Os- 
borne, has  had  a  history  that  will  confirm  in  the 
future  self-government  as  the  highest  method  of 
prison  discipline,  if  prison  is  looked  at  as  a  place 
no  longer  merely  for  punishment,  but  for  per- 
sonal regeneration.  Even  in  India,  the  poet 
Tagore  has  founded  a  school  with  a  self- 
governing  system  based  on  the  George  Junior 
Republic. 

The  George  Junior  Republic,  and  similar 
schemes,  undertake  to  train  young  hoodlums  in 
citizenship,  by  giving  them  in  a  mimic  state  the 
responsibilities  of  citizens.  Self-government,  we 
are  having  to  acknowledge,  is  being  more  and 
more  regarded  not  as  a  begrudged  concession, 
but  as  a  moral  necessity. 

The  extension  of  self-government  to  industry 
is  logical  when  we  remember  that  the  relation  of 
a  workman  to  his  work  is  a  moral  question  and 
depends  upon  his  honesty,  honor,  and  self-respect. 
A  workman  who  makes  bad  product,  or  injures 
product,  or  who  turns  out  less  than  he  is  capable 
of,  cannot  enjoy  complete  self-respect.  A  system 
that  corrects  his  disloyalty  will  add  to  his  man- 
hood as  well  as  to  the  profits  of  the  business. 

Trade-Unionism  No  Solution 

The  working-man  has  secured  a  measure  of 
industrial  self-government  through  trade-union- 
ism, which  lifts  him  from  the  position  of  abject 


326     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

dependence  upon  the  will  of  his  employer  and 
makes  collective  bargains  on  a  higher  level  of 
consideration  and  mutual  contract  than  he  could 
make  alone.  By  being  a  member  of  a  trade- 
union  a  working-man  has  something  to  say  about 
the  business  with  which  he  is  connected.  In  fact, 
he  has  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the  way  in  which 
the  business  must  treat  him.  And  this  participa- 
tion helps  to  satisfy  a  workman's  native  in- 
dependence, as  well  as  his  love  of  having  a  say 
in  that  which  orders  his  life.  But  trade-union- 
ism cannot  solve  the  Labor  Question;  for  if  it 
were  to  go  to  the  limit  of  complete  organization 
we  should  have  this  picture:  On  one  hand,  or- 
ganized capital;  on  the  other  hand,  organized 
labor — the  two  related  to  each  other  by  trade 
agreements  or  contracts.  Can  an  industrial  sys- 
tem be  final  in  a  democracy  which  separates 
citizens,  who  are  supposed  to  be  equal  before  the 
law  and  at  the  polls,  into  two  opposing  industrial 
camps  ? 

The  enlightened  effort  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Company  to  have  its  employees  buy  its 
stock,  and  so  share  in  its  fortunes,  is  notable  and 
points  in  the  right  direction.  Profit-sharing  as  an 
industrial  cement  would  seem  to  be  stronger  at 
any  rate  than  gratitude;  but  it  cannot  take  the 
place  of  industrial  self-government  or  finally  be 
a  substitute  for  denied  unionism. 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     327 

There  Are  Indications  of  Further  Participa- 
tion BY  THE  Working-people  in  the  Man- 
agement OF  Industries  in  which  They  Are 
Employed. 

**ln  my  reorganizing  work  in  factories  (says  the 
industrial  engineer,  H.  F.  J.  Porter),  I  have  found 
that  where  there  is  a  tendency  to  centralize  power  in 
a  one-man  regime  the  growth  of  the  enterprise  is  nar- 
rowed to  just  the  scope  of  that  one's  capabilities. 
Whereas,  if  every  individual  in  the  organization  is  given 
the  opportunity  and  the  privilege  to  express  his  views 
and  his  reasons  for  them  in  matters  regarding  which 
they  may  be  of  value ;  if  whatever  there  is  good  in  that 
presented  is  accepted  for  what  it  is  worth,  then  at  once 
the  management  is  reinforced  by  the  potential  knowl- 
edge possessed  by  the  brains  of  the  whole.'* 

The  advantages  of  democracy  are  not  to  be 
looked  for  only  in  those  ends  that  it,  in  common 
with  all  government,  expects,  such  as  safety  and 
justice;  or  even  in  those  results  in  which  democ- 
racy may  be  richer,  such  as  freedom,  self-respect, 
and  opportunity.  The  advantages  of  democracy 
are  to  be  found  in  its  method  of  operation, 
whereby  the  citizen,  having  to  assist  in  the  proc- 
ess of  government,  develops  qualities  of  states- 
manship— judgment,  foresight,  patience,  honesty, 
sympathy — and  must,  consequently,  become  a 
more  highly  organized  and  experienced  personal- 
ity with  a  more  profound  social  consciousness 
than  the  average  subject  of  a  king. 

A  citizen  in  a  republic  not  only  receives  a 


328     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

training  by  the  exercise  of  his  franchise  that 
adds  to  his  value  and  fits  him  to  be  of  more  ac- 
count in  an  industrial  organization,  but  the  fur- 
ther development  of  the  traits  he  has  educated 
at  the  ballot  awaits  his  industrial  independence, 
and,  consequently,  this  independence  is  some- 
thing he  will,  in  self-defense,  more  and  more 
demand. 

Lyman  Abbott  claims,  with  good  reason,  **that 
when  the  world  learned  it  could  have  a  state  with- 
out a  king  and  a  church  without  a  bishop,  it  had 
taken  a  long  step  towards  learning  that  there 
could  be  a  shop  without  a  boss.'' 

I  know  of  factories  where  a  democratic  co- 
operation is  secured  by  forming  a  shop  con- 
ference committee  made  up  of  the  superintendent 
and  overseers,  who  constitute  an  Upper  House, 
and  of  representatives  from  each  department, 
who  constitute  a  Lower  House.  Another  plan 
that  works  well  and  gives  a  sense  of  justice  is 
to  pay  employees  for  suggestions  that  are  found 
useful  and  not  to  '*fire"  them  for  troublesome 
complaints. 

**  Towering  over  President  and  State  Gov- 
ernors," says  James  Bryce,  in  his  **  American 
Commonwealth,*'  **over  Congress  and  State  Leg- 
islatures, over  conventions  and  the  vast  ma- 
chinery of  party,  public  opinion  stands  out  in  the 
United  States  as  the  source  of  power." 

Public  opinion  has  been  an  important  factor  in 
settling  strikes   and  lockouts,  where   a   passive 


i:^ 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     329 

and  suffering  public  gave  a  verdict  for  one  side 
or  the  other  which  had  weight  with  the  disputants. 
But  what  a  range  there  is  for  public  opinion 
within  the  body  of  workers !  How  dominating  an 
influence  under  a  democratic  organization  of  in- 
dustry! Suppose  there  were  standards  of  con- 
duct, workmanship  and  business  dealings,  of  a 
broader  nature  than  trade-union  rules,  which 
working-men  held  each  other  up  to.  Even  now, 
**a  Union  card  is  a  guarantee  of  workmanship," 
because  the  unions  contain  on  the  whole  the  best 
workers  in  a  given  trade.  This  field — that  of 
public  opinion  applied  to  industrial  life  from  the 
inside — remains  yet  to  be  capitalized. 

Industrial   Helplessness    Confronts   Political 
Independence 

The  feeling  of  industrial  helplessness,  which  is 
the  incubus  upon  the  spirit  of  the  working-man, 
is  contemporaneous  with  the  teachings  of  inde- 
pendence which  proceed  from  democratic  insti- 
tutions and  from  modern  science  with  its  weak- 
ening of  traditional  authority. 

Others  besides  the  workers  see  their  helpless- 
ness. The  Hon.  John  Bigelow,  whose  great  age, 
adorned  with  public  services,  spanned  most  of 
our  national  existence,  wrote,  in  1908,  to  the 
Governor  of  New  York: 

"With  food  enough  in  the  United  States  to  nourish 
twice  its  population,  the  average  wage-earner  can  lay 


330     FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

up  nothing,  can  provide  few  privileges,  and  practically 
no  recreation. ' ' 


How  different  were  the  hopes  of  our  young 
Republic  from  what  has  come  to  pass!  The  ex- 
pectations of  the  visionaries  of  the  first  half- 
century  were  well  set  forth  by  William  Ellery 
Channing,  in  his  lecture  on  **  Self -Culture/'  de- 
livered in  Boston  in  1838.  '*The  grand  distinc- 
tion of  the  times  is  the  emerging  of  the  people 
from  brutal  degradation,  the  gradual  recognition 
of  their  rights,  the  gradual  diffusion  among  them 
of  the  means  of  improvement  and  happiness. 
the  creation  of  a  new  power  in  the  state — the 
power  of  the  people." 

Mr.  Roosevelt,  addressing  the  Alumni  of  Har- 
vard College,  at  Cambridge,  in  June,  1910,  con- 
fessed that  our  democracy  had  not  met  the  ex- 
pectation of  its  well-wishers.  **I  found  every- 
where (in  Europe)  a  certain  disheartened  sense 
that  we  had  not  come  up  to  our  ideals  as  there 
was  ground  for  believing  that  we  ought  to  have 
come ;  that  we  had  not  achieved  them  as  we  ought 
to  have  achieved  them;  and  every  instance  of 
corruption,  of  demagogy,  of  the  unjust  abuse  of 
wealth,  the  unjust  use  of  wealth  to  the  detriment 
of  the  public,  or  the  improper  acceptance  by  the 
public  that  mere  wealth  in  and  of  itself  con- 
stituted a  claim  to  regard  in  the  community, 
every  instance  of  brutal  materialism  on  our  part, 
every  time  that  it  was  made  evident  that  the  at- 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT     331 

titude  of  this  country  was  such  as  ought  not  to 
be  the  attitude  of  a  democracy  founded  on  the 
principles  upon  which  ours  was  founded — every 
such  instance  served  to  dim  the  ideal  that  the 
name  America  conjured  up  in  the  minds  of  those 
in  foreign  lands/* 

Democracy  Getting  Its  Second  Wind 

A  great  deal  of  what  we  call  socialism  is  only 
democracy  getting  its  second  wind.  Disappoint- 
ment at  the  results  of  political  democracy  was 
inevitable.  The  modern  experiment  of  popular 
government,  it  must  be  remembered,  has  been 
contemporaneous  with  revolutionary  discoveries 
and  inventions,  associated  with  steam  and  elec- 
tricity, which,  by  making  it  possible  for  a  single 
engine  to  run  thousands  of  machines,  have  en- 
couraged concentration  of  capital  and  of  labor. 
The  kit  of  tools  of  the  old-fashioned  workman  is 
now  a  curiosity ;  our  skilled  workmen  are  depend- 
ent upon  access  to  machinery  owned  capital- 
istically.  Political  independence  and  industrial 
dependence  cannot  live  permanently  together. 
The  same  man  cannot  represent  both  without 
complaint  and  confusion.  The  same  country  can- 
not contain  both  without  disrupting  ebullitions.* 

Wonderful  things  have  happened  in  our 
time  even  before  the  war.  Belief  was  gaining 
ground  that  destitution  could  be  abolished,  and 

♦Consult  Chapter  II. 


332    FAIR  PLAY  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

that  this  Utopia  awaits  only  a  richer  justice ;  that 
if  men  will  be  more  brotherly  the  old  earth  will 
be  nearer  heaven.*  This  new  religion  took  pos- 
session of  millions,  some  of  whom  called  them- 
selves atheists.  The  working-people  of  many 
lands  were  reaching  an  understanding  among 
themselves  and  were  banded  together  in  an  op- 
timism of  outlook,  a  joyousness  of  spirit  and  a 
self-sacrificing  compact,  such  as  in  the  past  have 
only  illuminated  periods  of  religious  exaltation. 
The  lowly  man  no  longer  felt  lonely.  The  doubter 
no  longer  was  worried  by  dogma.  Within  life 
itself  were  found  fertile  grounds  of  faith,  unfa- 
miliar but  far-reaching  fellowship.  The  world 
was  never  so  friendly  an  abode  for  the  human 
spirit  as  just  before  the  war.  The  Hebrew  on  the 
eve  of  the  Messianic  coming;  the  Southern  slave 
on  the  threshold  of  emancipation ;  the  crusader  in 
sight  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre — must  have  had  the 
exultant  expectations,  the  ** thrills,"  as  we  say, 
that  a  glimpse  of  industrial  brotherhood  was  giv- 
ing millions  of  wage-earners.  This  elation  of  a 
new  human  enthusiasm  the  war  cruelly  checked, 
but  has  not  destroyed.  Liberated  from  a  flood  of 
war  hatred,  freed  from  the  suppression  of  autoc- 
racy, it  is  rising  anew  into  a  purified  democratic 
ideal, — a  clearer  demand  for  industrial  brother- 
hood which  shall  be  world-wide. 

**  Released  from  monastic  and  oppressive  regu- 
lation, from  the  hurt  of  body  and  imprisonment 

•See  J.  H.  Hollander,  "Abolition  of  Poverty,"  1914. 


WHAT  THE  WORKING-MEN  WANT    333 

of  mind,  the  people  of  the  Renaissance, '*  says 
Professor  Rudolf  Eucken,  **  burst  forth  into  free- 
dom of  classical  speculation  and  gained  cheer,  en- 
thusiasm, power/' 

Why  have  our  masses  not  the  joy  and  enthusi- 
asms of  the  people  of  the  Renaissance?  Mod- 
ern life  has  come  into  new  freedom  and  self- 
confidence — the  liberation  of  science  and  wealth — 
but  only  partially  distributed.  The  freedom  and 
the  exhilaration  that  the  working-people  of  the 
Renaissance  enjoyed,  helped  by  the  guilds  and  a 
more  homogeneous  economic  system,  our  work- 
ing-people have  missed  through  industrial  help- 
lessness. They  have  been  confused  and  depressed 
by  a  citizenship  which  disappointed  their  hopes 
and  did  not  in  reality  bestow  the  lost  industrial 
status.  This  is  a  serious  loss,  not  only  because 
a  great  epoch  has  dawned  upon  a  divided  civiliza- 
tion— one  practically  engaged  in  civil  war — but 
because  the  majority  of  the  people,  by  reason  of 
their  industrial  helplessness,  are  not  in' a  posi- 
tion to  join  the  privileged  few  in  using  the  mod- 
ern enlightenment  for  the  good  of  all,  in  greater 
discoveries,  arts,  letters,  and  relationships.  We 
are  all  losers  if  we  permit  any  class  to  lack  free- 
dom and  self-confidence.  We  are  only  completely 
gainers,  by  the  special  enfranchisements  of  our 
time,  when  all  classes  work  together  for  discov- 
ery, for  increase  of  wealth,  for  the  spread  of  ma- 
terial benefits,  and  for  the  highest  individual  and 
social  development. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


PAGE 

Notes  on  Economic  Waste,  Chapter  VII. 

Immediate   References 337 

General  References 340 

Physical  Training  Act — State  of  New  York. 

Scope  of  Physical  Training  from  General  Plan  and  Syllabus. 

Published  January  15,  1917,  pp.  27-28-29  ....  341 

Requirements  of  Physical  Training 343 

Organization  of  the  I.  W.  W 344 

Labor. 

Labor  Laws  in  War  Time 347 

Trade  Union  Official  Journals 352 

Bibliography 363 


IMMEDIATE  REFERENCES 

ECONOMIC    WASTE    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES   AND    ITS 
SIGNIFICANCE 

Extent  of  Our  Economic  Waste 

1.  Waste  through  Carelessness  and  Ignorance 
Natural  Resources 

Soil  erosion    $50,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Floods   and   freshets    238,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Non-use  of  water  power 600,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Poor  Method 

Lumbering,  waste  of  by-product 300,000,000 

Agricultural      Department,      Bureau      of 

Chemistry,    quoted    from    N.    Y.    Globe, 

2-28-13. 
Mining,  waste  of  by-product 55,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 

887 


338  APPENDIX 

Poor  Method  (Cont.) 

Fuel    $774,000 

Reginald  Pelham  Bolton,  Pres.  Amer.  Soc. 

Heating  and  Ventilating  Engineers,  quoted 

from  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  1-23-12. 

Fire  losses 235,000,000 

Cost  of  insurance 250,000,000 

Fire  prevention   450,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912.    '*  City  Life," 

N.  Y.,  6-11-11. 
Forest   fires    60,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
In  smoke,  by  poor  stoking 600,000,000 

H.  M.  Wilson,  chief  engineer  in  one  branch 

of  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 

Gas  45,000,000 

Inefficiency    in    national,    state,    municipal 

work   300,000,000 

Preventable  Diseases  of  Livestock 93,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Insect  and  Animal  Pests 
'  Rats     100,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 

Rodents  (exclusive  of  rats)    110,236,000 

N.  Y.  Times,  6-26-10. 

Insects  420,000,000 

U.    S.     Dept.    of    Agriculture.      Yearbook 

( 1904 ) .    Note :  Another  estimate  is  $700,- 

000,000. 

2.  Waste  through  Faulty  Economics 
Transportation  Losses 
Railroad  mismanagement   600,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Transportation  accidents    26,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Careless  handling  of  fish,  eggs,  fruit 40,000,000 

Dr.  Mary  E.  Pennington,  chemist  in  U.  S. 

Dept.  Bacteriology  at  Philadelphia.     Also 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 

World's  Work,  March,  1912. 
Decay  and  loss  in  transit 1,000,500,000 

B.  F.  Yoakum,  of  New  York,  Chairman  of 

Board  of  Directors,  Frisco  Lines. 


APPENDIX  339 

Labor  Maladjustments 

Occupational   diseases    $1,000,000,000 

Frederick  Hoffman,  statistician  of  the 
Prudential  Insurance  Co.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Industrial  accidents   13,000,000 

Koester,  "  Our  Stupendous  Yearly  Waste," 
World's  Work,  March,  1912. 

Unemployment  3,500,000,000 

N.  J.  Stone. 

Strikes  and  lockouts 1,000,000,000 

John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  in  "  Personal 
Relation  in  Industry,"  quoting  Frank  A. 
Vanderlip. 

Domestic  inefficiency    300,000,000 

Mrs.  Christine  Frederick. 
Social  Waste 
Personal  Extravagance 

Cheap  shows 60,000,000 

"  World's  Missionary  Signs  of  the  Times." 
"Greater  N.  Y.  Special." 

Tobacco   825,000,000 

Chart,  P.  E.  Domestic  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

Alcohol    1,600,000,000 

William  B.  Bailey,  Ph.D.,  Asst.  Prof.  Pol. 
Econ.,  Yale.    Independent,  3-28-12. 

Chewing  gum  15,000,000 

"  World's  Missionary  Signs  of  the  Times." 

Drugs     27,500,000 

"  World's  Missionary  Signs  of  the  Times." 

Patent  medicines 75,476,032 

"  World's  Missionary  Signs  of  the  Times." 

Soft  drinks 107,536,000 

"  World's  Missionary  Signs  of  the  Times." 

Confectionery 178,000,000 

Defective  Classes 

Backward  pupils  26,000,000 

Leonard  P.  Ayres,  manager  of  Russell  Sage 
Foundation's  investigation  of  backward 
children.  "  Psychological  Clinic,"  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  49-57   (1909-10). 

Feeble-minded  85,000,000 

Edwin  Bjorkman,  "  The  Unnecessary  Cost 
of  Sickness,"  World's  Work  18:  1134-43 
(July,  1909 ) .  Note :  The  figure  here  given 
includes  care  of  insane.  Is  evidently  too 
small  for  both. 

Insane    135,000,000 

Cliflford  B.  Beers,  Sec'y  Nat'l  Com.  for 
Mental  Hygiene,  quoted  from  Times  3-15-13. 


340  APPENDIX 

Preventable  disease   $1,000,000,000 

Committee  of  One  Hundred  on  National 

Health. 

Death  of  children    2,627,300,000 

Illiteracy    1,500,000,000 

N.  J.  Stone. 
Homicide  and  Suicide  (about  20,000  at  $2,000 

each)     40,000,000 

GENERAL  REFERENCES  ON  ECONOMIC  WASTE 

Abolition  of  poverty. 

J.  H.  Hollander.     Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  1914.     (Hough- 
ton, Mifflin  Co.) 
Conservation  of  national  resources. 

Am.  Soc.  of  Civil  Eng.     1910.  Te.  p.  v.  40  No.  3. 
Conservation  of  national  resources  of  the  U.  S. 

C.  R.  Van  Hise,  Univ.  of  Wisconsin.     (Macmillan  Co.,  1910.) 
Conservation  and  research;  economies  secured  by  scientific  inves- 
tigation. 

H.  T.  Kalmus.    Sci.  Am.  75.    S.  114-5.  Feb.  22,  '13. 
Conserving  waste. 

Scientific  American.     110:  308.     April  11,  *14. 
Distribution  of  incomes  in  the  U.  S.  (1912). 

F.  H.  StreighthoflF.     Columbia  University  study. 
Economic  possibilities  of  conservation. 

I.  J.  Econ.  27:  497-519.     May,  '13. 
Estimated  valuation  of  national*  wealth ;  1850-1912. 

Dept.  of  commerce.  Bureau  of  the  Census,  1915. 
Expenditures  of  the  poor. 

Mrs.  W.  E.  Gallaher,  Conf.  Char,  and  Corrections,  1912,  118-21. 
Fight  for  the  nation. 

Outlook  105:  692-4.  Nov.  29,  '13. 
Food  from  waste  products. 

Literary  Digest  46:  15-6.    Jan.  4,  1913. 
For  a  reawakened  conservation. 

World's  Work  25:  246-9.    Jan.  2,  '13. 
Gathering  up  the  fragments. 

L.  E.  Theiss.     Outlook  109 :  46-9.    Jan.  6,  '15. 
How  to  get  something  by  giving  something  up. 

S.  Strunsky.     Cent.  86:  153-4.     May,  '13. 
Metropolitan  Life  Ins.  Co. 

Study  of  sickness  in  Boston.  Lee  K.  Franklin;  Louis  N.  Dublin. 
National  Conservation  Commission  Report,  Vol.  III. 

Govt.  Ptg.  Office,  1909,  Doc.  676,  60th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 
National  waste,  particularly  as  related  to  wants  of  poor. 
Our  great  national  waste. 

F.    M.    Turner,    Jr.    Gonad.    M.    46:  1-8,    170-6. 
Periodical  Literature. 


APPENDIX  341 

Popular  control  of  national  wealth. 

0.  C.  Barber.    Outlook  104:  613-23,  July  19,  1913. 
Recoverable  values  of  municipal  waste. 

Amer.  Journal  of  Public  Health,  Boston,  1914,  V.  4,  p.  575-578. 
Redistribution  of  mankind. 

H.  N.  Dickson,  Smithsonian  Report,  1913.  553-69. 
Reducing  our  waste  to  eggs. 

Scientific  American  suppl..  May,  '16.     V.  81,  p.  292-293. 
Report  on  national  vitality. 

Irving  Fisher.     N.  C.  C.  Vol.  3. 
Some  of  the  fruits  of  necessity. 

Sci.  Am.  115:  275.  Sept.  23,  '16. 
Teaching  thrift  thru  trash. 

Survey  36:  437.    July  22,  '16. 
U.  S.  Census  Office.     12  census,  vol.  10:  Manufactures  pt.  4  pp. 

723-748. 
Utilization  of  wastes   and  by-products   in  manufactures    (espe- 
cially 1890-1900). 
Values  from  city  garbage. 

C.  O.  Bartlett.     Eng.  M.  47 :  276-8.     May,  '14. 
Waste 

Atlan.    115:  572-5.     Ap.   '15. 

M.  N.  Watson;  J.  Home  Econ.,  7:  109-14.     March,  '16. 
Wastes  in  the  kitchen. 

S.  T.  Rorer.     Good  H.  58:  708-10.     May,  '14. 
Waste  trade   journal. 
Water    conservation,    fisheries    and    food    supply. 

R.  E.  Cooper.     Pop.  Sci.  87:  90-9.    July,  '15. 
Wealth  and  income  of  the  people  of  the  U.  S. 

W.  I.  King   (1915). 
Wealth  from  wasted  gas. 

C.  Lawrence.     Tech.  World.  19:37-8.     March,  '13. 
Wealth  from  the  world's  waste. 

Bookkeeper,  Detroit,  1909.     Pol.  22,  p.  91-94. 
When  our  resources  are  gone. 

Ind.  74:  555-6.    March  13,  '13. 
Where  they  won't  conserve. 

G.  F.  Stratton.  Tech.  World.     18:  557-8.    Jan,  '13. 
Whole  loaf — or  five  per  cent. 

W.  V.  Woehlke.    Sunset  33 :  158-9.    July,  '14. 


342  APPENDIX 


AN  ACT 

To  Amend  the  Militaby  Law,  Relative  to  Militaby  and  Dis- 
ciplinary Teainino. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  Neio  York,  represented  in  Senate  and 
Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  twenty-seven  of  chapter  forty-one  of  the  laws 
of  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  entitled  "  An  act  in  relation  to  the 
militia,  constituting  chapter  thirty-six  of  the  consolidated  laws," 
as  added  by  chapter  five  hundred  and  sixty-six  of  the  laws  of 
nineteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as 
follows : 

§27.  Physical  and  disciplinary  training  in  schools;  military 
training.  ( 1 )  The  military  training  commission  shall  advise  and 
confer  with  the  board  of  regents  of  the  university  of  the  state  of 
New  York  as  to  the  courses  of  instruction  in  physical  training 
to  be  prescribed  for  elementary  and  secondary  schools  as  provided 
in  the  education  law. 

In  order  to  more  thoroughly  and  comprehensively  prepare  the 
boys  of  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  for  the  duties  and 
obligations  of  citizenship,  it  shall  also  be  the  duty  of  the  military 
training  commission  to  recommend  from  time  to  time  to  the  board 
of  regents  the  establishment  in  such  schools,  (tf  habits,  customs 
and  methods  best  adapted  to  develop  correct  physical  posture  and 
bearing,  mental  and  physical  alertness,  self-control,  disciplined 
initiative,  sense  of  duty  and  the  spirit  of  co-operation  under 
leadership. 

(2)  After  the  first  day  of  September,  nineteen  hundred  and 
sixteen,  all  boys  above  the  age  of  sixteen  years  and  not  over  the 
age  of  nineteen  years,  except  boys  exempted  by  the  commission, 
shall  be  given  such  military  training  as  the  commission  may  pre- 
scribe for  periods  aggregating  not  more  than  three  hours  in  each 
week  [during  the  school  or  college  year,  in  the  case  of  boys  who 
are  pupils  in  public  or  private  schools  or  colleges,  and  for  periods 
not  exceeding  those  above  stated]  between  September  first  of  each 
year  and  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  next  ensuing  [in  the  case  of 
boys  who  are  not  pupils;  but  any  boy  who  is  regularly  and  law- 
fully employed  in  any  occupation  for  a  livelihood  shall  not  be 
required  to  take  such  training  unless  he  volunteers  and  is  accepted 
therefor].  Such  training  periods,  in  the  case  of  pupils  in  [such] 
schools  and  colleges,  shall  be  in  addition  to  prescribed  periods  of 


Explanation— Matter  in  italie$  i8  new;  Matter  in  brackets  [  )  ia  old  law  to  be 
admitted. 


APPENDIX  343 

other  instruction  therein  and  outside  the  time  assigned  therefor. 
Such  training  shall  be  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the  mili- 
tary training  commission  by  such  male  teachers  and  physical  in- 
structors of  schools  and  colleges  as  may  be  assigned  by  the  boards 
of  education  or  trustees  of  such  schools  or  governing  bodies  of  such 
colleges  and  accepted  by  the  commission,  and  by  officers  and 
enlisted  men  of  the  national  guard  and  naval  militia  detailed  for 
that  purpose  by  the  major  general  commanding  the  national 
guard  or  such  officer  and  enlisted  men  of  the  United  States  army 
as  may  be  available.  The  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the  national 
guard  and  naval  militia  so  detailed  shall,  while  in  the  actual  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  the  detail,  receive  such  percentage  of 
the  pay  authorized  by  this  chapter  for  officers  and  enlisted  men 
of  the  national  guard  and  naval  militia  of  their  respective  grades 
and  length  of  service  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  fixed  by  the 
commission.  Teachers  and  instructors  assigned  from  schools  and 
colleges  shall  be  paid  such  compensation  as  the  commission  may 
determine  out  of  moneys  appropriated  for  carrying  out  the  pro- 
visions of  this  article. 

Such  requirement  as  to  military  training,  herein  prescribed, 
may  in  the  discretion  of  the  commission  be  met  in  part  by  such 
vocational  training  or  vocational  experience  as  will,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  commission,  specifically  prepare  boys  of  the  ages  named  for 
service  useful  to  the  state,  in  the  maintenance  of  defense,  in  the 
promotion  of  public  safety,  in  the  conservation  and  development 
of  the  state's  resources,  or  in  the  construction  and  maintenance  of 
public  improvements. 

§  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


REQUIREMENTS  OF  PHYSICAL  TRAINING 

For  elementary  and  secondary  schools: 

1.  Physical  training  A:   correlation  with  school  medical  inspec- 

tion, daily  class  inspection  by  regular  class  teacher. 

2.  Physical    training    B:    a    setting-up    drill    of  at    least    two 

minutes'  duration  at  the  beginning  of  each  class  period, 
or  at  least  four  times  every  school  day,  directed  by  regu- 
lar class  teacher. 

3.  Physical   training   C:    talks  on   hygiene,   two   ten-minute   or 

fifteen-minute  periods  a  week,  under  regular  class  teacher 
or  a  teacher  especially  assigned  to  this  work  (to  go  into 
effect  Sept.,  1917). 

4.  Physical  training  D :  supervised  recreation. 

a.  Immediate  requirement:    (physical  training  3  may  be 

substituted)    sixty   minutes   each   week,   under   the 
regular  class  teacher,  or  special  teacher,  or  both. 

b.  Recreational  requirement,  to  go  into  effect  not  later  than 

Sept.,    1917. 
( 1 )   For  schools  with  adequate  equipment,  a  minimum 
of  four  hours  a  week,  at  least  one  of  which  must 


344  APPENDIX 

be  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  regular 
school  officials;  the  other  three  hours  may  be 
satisfied  by  equivalents  accepted  by  the  school 
from  the  home  or  community  activities  of  the 
child. 
(2)  For  schools  without  adequate  equipment  for  super- 
vised recreation,  a  minimum  of  three  hours  a 
week  will  be  required,  all  of  which  may  be  cov- 
ered by  equivalents  accepted  from  the  home  or 
community  activities  of  the  child.  This  require- 
ment must  not  be  regarded  as  permanent  or 
satisfactory.  All  schools  should  eventually 
make  provision  for  meeting  the  requirement  as 
outlined  in  paragraph 
5.  Physical  training  E:  gymnastic  drills,  sixty  minutes  a  week 
under  special  teacher  of  physical  training. 

a.  Immediate  requirement — may  substitute  the  immediate 

requirement  in  physical  training  D  (supervised  re- 
creation), sixty  minutes  a  week,  for  this  requirement 
in  gymnastic  drills. 

b.  Requirement  to  go  into  effect  not  later  than  September, 

1917.  All  schools  in  which  there  is  adequate  space 
and  equipment  for  gymnastic  activities  will  provide 
a  minimum  of  sixty  minutes  each  week  distributed 
into  at  least  two  periods  a  week. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  I.  W.  W. 

We  quote  the  following  from  a  pamphlet  printed  by  the 
I.  W.  W.  Publishing  Bureau  of  Cleveland,  "The  I.  W.  W.,  Its 
History,  Structure  and  Methods,"  by  Vincent  St.  John,  who  is,  at 
present,  general  secretary  of  the  organization : 

General  Outline 

1.  The  unit  of  organization  is  the  Local  Industrial  Union.  The 
local  industrial  union  embraces  all  of  the  workers  of  a  given 
industry  in  a  given  city,  town  or  district. 

2.  All  local  industrial  unions  of  the  same  industry  are  combined 
into  a  National  Industrial  Union  with  jurisdiction  over  the  entire 
industry. 

3.  National  industrial  unions  of  closely  allied  industries  are 
combined  into  Departmental  Organizations.  For  example,  all 
national  industrial  unions  engaged  in  the  production  of  Food 
Products  and  in  handling  them  would  be  combined  into  the  Depart- 
ment of  Food  Products.  Steam,  Air,  Water  and  Land  national 
divisions  of  the  Transportation  Industry,  form  the  Transportation 
Department. 

4.  The  Industrial  Departments  are  combined  into  the  General 
Organization,  which  in  turn  is  to  be  an  integral  part  of  a  like 


APPENDIX  345 

International  Organization ;  and  through  the  international  organi- 
zation establish  solidarity  and  co-operation  between  the  workers 
of  all  countries. 

Subdivisions 

Taking  into  consideration  the  technical  differences  that  exist 
within  the  different  departments  of  the  industries,  and  the  needs 
where  large  numbers  of  workers  are  employed,  the  local  industrial 
union  is  branched  to  meet  these  requirements. 

1.  Language  branches,  so  that  the  workers  can  conduct  the 
affairs  of  the  organization  in  the  language  they  are  familiar  with. 

2.  Shop  branches,  so  that  the  workers  of  each  shop  control  the 
conditions  that  directly  affect  them. 

3.  Department  branches  in  large  industries,  to  simplify  and 
systematize  the  business  of  the  organization. 

4.  District  branches,  to  enable  members  to  attend  meetings  of 
the  union  without  having  to  travel  too  great  a  distance.  These 
branches  are  only  necessary  in  the  large  cities  and  big  industries 
where  the  industry  covers  large  areas. 

5.  District  Councils,  in  order  that  every  given  industrial  dis- 
trict shall  have  complete  industrial  solidarity  among  the  workers 
of  each  industry.  The  Industrial  District  Council  combines  all 
the  local  industrial  unions  of  the  district.  Through  it  concerted 
action  is  maintained  for  its  district. 

Functions  of  Bbanches 

Branches  of  an  industrial  local  deal  with  the  employer  only 
through  the  Industrial  Union.  Thus,  while  the  workers  in  each 
branch  determine  the  conditions  that  directly  affect  them,  they  act 
in  concert  with  all  the  workers  through  the  industrial  union. 

As  the  knowledge  of  the  English  language  becomes  more  gen- 
eral, the  language  branches  will  disappear. 

The  development  of  machine  production  will  also  gradually 
eliminate  the  branches  based  on  technical  knowledge,  or  skill. 

The  constant  development  and  concentration  of  the  ownership 
and  control  of  industry  will  be  met  by  a  like  concentration  of  the 
number  of  industrial  unions  and  industrial  departments.  It  is 
meant  that  the  organization  at  all  times  shall  conform  to  the 
needs  of  the  hour  and  eventually  furnish  the  union  through 
which  and  by  which  the  organized  workers  will  be  able  to 
determine  the  amount  of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  education  and 
amusement  necessary  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  workers. 

Administration  of  the  Obganization 

Local  unions  have  full  charge  of  all  their  local  affairs;  elect 
their  own  officers;  determine  their  pay;  and  also  the  amount  of 
dues  collected  by  the  local  from  the  membership.     The  general 


346  APPENDIX 

organization,  however,  does  not  allow  any  local  to  charge  over 
$1.00  per  month  dues  or  $5.00  initiation  fee. 

Each  branch  of  a  local  industrial  union  elects  a  delegate  or 
delegates  to  the  central  committee  of  the  local  industrial  union. 
This  central  committee  is  the  administrative  body  of  the  local 
industrial  union.  Officers  of  the  branches  consist  of  secretary, 
treasurer,  chairman  and  trustees. 

Officers  of  the  local  industrial  union  consist  of  secretary  and 
treasurer,  chairman  and  trustees. 

Each  local  industrial  union  within  a  given  district  electa  a 
delegate  or  delegates  to  the  district  council.  The  district  council 
has  as  officers  a  secretary-treasurer  and  trustees.  The  officers  of 
the  district  council  are  elected  by  the  delegates  thereof. 

All  officers  in  local  bodies  are  elected  by  referendum  vote  of  all 
the  membership  involved,  except  those  of  the  district  council. 

Proportional  representation  does  not  prevail  in  the  delegation  of 
the  branches  and  to  district  councils.  Each  branch  and  local  has 
the  same  number  of  delegates.    Each  delegate  casts  one  vote. 

National  industrial  unions  hold  annual  conventions.  Dele- 
gates from  each  local  of  the  national  union  cast  a  vote  based 
upon  the  membership  of  the  local  that  they  represent. 

The  national  industrial  union  nominates  the  candidates  for 
officers  at  the  convention,  and  the  three  nominees  receiving  the 
highest  votes  at  the  convention  are  sent  to  all  the  membership  to 
be  voted  upon  in  selecting  the  officers. 

The  officers  of  the  national  unions  consist  of  secretary  and 
treasurer,  and  executive  board.  Each  national  union  elects  dele- 
gates to  the  department  to  which  it  belongs.  The  same  procedure 
is  followed  in  electing  delegates  as  in  electing  officers. 

Industrial  departments  hold  conventions  and  nominate  the 
delegates  that  are  elected  to  the  general  convention.  Delegates 
to  the  general  convention  nominate  candidates  for  the  offices  of  the 
general  organization  which  are  a  General  Secretary-Treasurer, 
and  a  General  Organizer.  These  general  officers  are  elected  by  the 
vote  of  the  entire  organization. 

The  General  Executive  Board  is  composed  of  one  member  from 
each  Industrial  Department  and  is  selected  by  the  membership  of 
the  department. 

General  conventions  are  held  annually  at  present. 

The  rule  in  determining  the  wages  of  the  officers  of  all  parts 
of  the  organization  is,  to  pay  the  officers  who  are  needed  approxi- 
mately the  same  wages  they  would  receive  when  employed  in  the 
industry  in  which  they  work.  The  wages  of  the  general  secretary 
and  the  general  organizer  are  each  $90.00  per  month. 


APPENDIX  347 

LABOR  LAWS  IN  WAR  TIME 
Number  1 — Special  Bulletin — April,  1917 

The  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation,  131  East  23rd 
Street,  New  York  City 

CONSERVE  OUR  INDUSTRIAL  ARMY 
Pboduction  Must  Be  Increased 

With  the  beginning  of  war,  the  problem  of  national  eflfectiveness 
looms  big.  Preparedness  efforts  are  redoubled.  Indications  al- 
ready appear  that  Men  may  be  sacrificed  to  Materials  in  the 
erroneous  belief  that  unrestricted  endeavor  increases  output. 
There  is  danger  that  over-zeal  may  lead  to  the  breaking  down  of 
protective  standards  and  hence  of  the  health  and  unproductive- 
ness of  labor.  Great  Britain  made  this  mistake  at  the  outset  of 
war;  but  has  recognized  what  it  means,  and  has  set  about  re- 
establishing proper  standards.  If  conservation  of  the  working 
population  is  sound  policy  to  meet  the  demands  of  peace,  then 
it  is  an  imperative  duty  in  meeting  the  acute  strain  of  war. 

On  March  23,  1917,  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Association 
for  Labor  Legislation  issued  a  public  announcement  of  its  attitude 
toward  standards  of  legal  protection  for  workers  in  time  of  war. 
This  statement  is  embodied  in  the  following  resolution: 

Whereas,  The  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the  World 
War  appears  imminent;  and 

Whereas,  Other  countries  upon  engaging  in  the  conflict  per- 
mitted a  serious  breakdown  of  protective  labor  regulations  with 
the  result,  as  shown  by  recent  official  investigations,  of  early  and 
unmistakable  loss  of  health,  output  and  national  effectiveness ;  and 

Whereas,  Our  own  experience  has  already  demonstrated  that 
accidents  increase  with  speeding  up  and  the  employment  of  new 
workers  unaccustomed  to  their  tasks,  that  over-fatigue  defeats  the 
object  aimed  at  in  lengthening  working  hours,  and  that  new  occu- 
pational poisoning  has  accompanied  the  recent  development  of 
munition  manufacture;  and 

Whereas,  The  full  strength  of  our  nation  is  needed  as  never 
before  and  we  cannot  afford  to  suffer  loss  of  labor  power  through 
accidents,  disease,  industrial  poisoning  and  over-fatigue;  now, 
therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation, 
at  this  critical  time,  in  order  to  promote  the  success  of  our  country 
in  war  as  well  as  in  peace,  would  sound  a  warning  against  the 
shortsightedness  and  laxness  at  first  exemplified  abroad  in  these 
matters,  and  would  urge  all  public-spirited  citizens  to  co-operate 
in  maintaining,  for  the  protection  of  those  who  serve  in  this  time 


348  APPENDIX 

of  stress  the  industries  of  the  nation,  (who  as  experience  abroad 
has  shown  are  quite  as  important  to  military  success  as  the  fight- 
ing forces ) ,  the  following  essential  minimum  requirements : 

/.  Safety 
1.  Maintenance  of  all  existing  standards  of  safeguarding  ma- 
chinery and  industrial  processes  for  the  prevention  of  accidents. 

//.  Sanitation 

1.  Maintenance  of  all  existing  measures  for  the  prevention  of 
occupational  diseases. 

2.  Immediate  agreement  upon  practicable  methods  for  the  pre- 
vention of  special  occupational  poisonings  incident  to  making  and 
handling  explosives. 

///.  Hours 

1.  Three-shift  system  in  continuous   industries. 

2.  In  non-continuous  industries,  maintenance  of  existing  stand- 
ard working  day  as  basic. 

3.  One  day's  rest  in  seven  for  all  workers. 

IV.  Wages 

1.  Equal  pay  for  equal  work,  without  discrimination  as  to  sex. 

2.  Maintenance  of  existing  wage  rates  for  basic  working  day. 

3.  Time  and  one-half  for  all  hours  beyond  basic  working  day. 

4.  Wage  rates  to  be  periodically  revised  to  correspond  with 
variations  in  the  cost  of  living. 

V.  Child  Labor 

1.  Maintenance  of  all  existing  special  regulations  regarding 
child  labor,  including  minimum  wages,  maximum  hours,  prohibi- 
tion of  night  work,  prohibited  employment,  and  employment  cer- 
tificates. 

2.  Determination  of  specially  hazardous  employments  to  be  for- 
bidden to  children  under  sixteen. 

VI.  Woman's  Work 
1.  Maintenance     of     existing     special     regulations     regarding 
woman's  work,  including  maximum  hours,  prohibition  of  night 
work,  prohibited  hazardous  employments,  and  prohibited  employ- 
ment immediately  before  and  after  childbirth. 

VII.  Social  Insurance 

1.  Maintenance  of  existing  standards  of  workmen's  compensa- 
tion for  industrial  accidents  and  diseases. 

2.  Extension  of  workmen's  compensation  laws  to  embrace  occu- 
pational diseases,  especially  those  particularly  incident  to  the 
manufacture  and  handling  of  explosives. 


APPENDIX  349 

3.  Immediate  investigation  of  the  sickness  problem  among  the 
workers  to  ascertain  the  advisability  of  establishing  universal 
workmen's  health  insurance. 

VIIL  Labor  Market 

1.  Extension  of  existing  systems  of  public  employment  bureaus 
to  aid  in  the  intelligent  distribution  of  labor  throughout  the 
country. 

IX.  Administration  of  Lahor  Laws 

1.  Increased  appropriations  for  enlarged  staffs  of  inspectors 
to  enforce  labor  legislation. 

2.  Representation  of  employees,  employers,  and  the  public  on 
joint  councils  for  co-operating  with  the  labor  departments  in 
drafting  and  enforcing  necessary  regulations  to  put  the  foregoing 
principles  into  full  effect. 


GREAT  BRITAIN'S  EXPERIENCE 
Damaging  Effect  of  Relaxed  Standabds 

England  has  found  that  national  strength  in  war  requires  the 
rigid  maintenance  of  protective  standards  for  those  who  serve  in 
the  industries. 

When  the  war  began,  working  hours  were  lengthened  in  the 
munition  factories  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  legal  restrictions  on 
women's  hours  were  relaxed.  This  was  done  on  the  false  supposi- 
tion that  production  would  be  increased. 

Then  followed  complaints  of  lost  time  and  failure  to  maintain 
output,  and  of  the  "  sweating "  of  workers.  This  situation  led 
to  the  appointment  by  the  Minister  of  Munitions  of  a  Health  of 
Munition  Workers  Committee  "  to  consider  and  advise  on  questions 
of  industrial  fatigue,  the  physical  health  and  pliysical  eflSciency  of 
workers  in  munition  factories  and  workshops." 

This  Committee,  in  a  series  of  reports,  demonstrated  that  from 
the  point  of  view  of  maximum  production  alone,  excessive  hours 
did  not  pay;  and  that  the  efficiency  of  workers  had  been  lowered 
by  overwork. 

That  the  nation  cannot  afford  to  continue  the  shortsighted 
policy  of  over-taxing  its  munition  workers  was  the  Committee's 
conclusion. 

"Misguided  efforts  to  stimulate  workers  to  feverish  activity," 
reports  the  Committee,  "  are  likely  to  be  as  damaging  to  the 
desired  result  as  the  cheers  of  partisans  would  be,  if  they  encour- 
aged a  long-distance  runner  to  a  futile  sprint  early  in  his  race. 
...  In  war  time  the  workmen  will  be  willing,  as  they  are  showing 
in  so  many  directions,  to  forego  comfort  and  to  work  nearer  the 
margin  of  accumulating  fatigue  than  in  time  of  peace,  but  the 
country  cannot  afford  the  extravagance  of  paying  for  work  done 


350  APPENDIX 

during  incapacity  from  fatigue  just  because  so  many  hours  are 
spent  upon  it,  or  the  further  extravagance  of  urging  armies  of 
workmen  toward  relative  incapacity  by  neglect  of  physiological 
law.  .  .  .  Taking  the  country  as  a  whole,  the  Committee  are 
hound  to  record  their  impression  that  the  munition  workers  in 
general  have  been  allowed  to  reach  a  state  of  reduced  efficiency 
and  lowered  health  which  might  have  been  avoided  without  the 
reduction  of  output  by  attention  to  the  details  of  daily  and 
weekly  rest." 

Evidence  convinced  the  Committee  that  seven-day  work  is  a  mis- 
taken procedure  with  any  class  of  workers. 

"Habm  to  Body  and  Mind" 

Urging  that  proper  restrictions  for  women  workers  are  needed, 
the  Committee  reports ;  "  Conditions  of  work  are  accepted  without 
question  and  without  complaint  which,  immediately  detrimental  to 
output,  would,  if  continued,  be  ultimately  disastrous?  to  health.  It 
18  for  the  nation  to  safeguard  the  devotion  of  its  workers  by  its 
foresight  and  watchfulness  lest  irreparable  harm  be  done  to  body 
and  mind  both  in  this  generation  and  the  next." 

Measures  to  secure  good  sanitary  conditions,  lighting,  ventila- 
tion, and  the  prevention  of  industrial  accidents  and  diseases,  are 
likewise  essential  to  maintain  eflSciency,  the  Committee  finds. 

According  to  Mr.  P.  Sargant  Florence  of  the  British  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the  conclusions  of  the  Committee 
have  resulted  in  a  tendency  to  reduce  hours,  in  the  general 
abandonment  of  Sunday  work,  in  some  substitution  of  eight  for 
twelve-hour  shifts  in  continuous  industries,  and  in  improved  provi- 
sions for  health,  comfort  and  safety.  In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Flor- 
ence, "the  nation's  needs  would  have  been  better  served  in  the 
long  run,  even  from  the  point  of  view  of  maximum  output  alone, 
if  pre-war  standards  and  restrictions  had  been  observed  without 
change." 

This  illuminating  testimony  from  the  practical  experience  of 
a  nation  that  has  been  organizing  all  of  its  resources,  so  as 
most  effectively  to  meet  the  ordeal  of  war,  offers  a  timely  lesson 
to  the  United  States. 


AN  AMERICAN  DANGER 
Letting  Down  the  Babs 

War  orders  in  the  United  States  since  1914  have  been  followed 
by  indications  of  the  same  industrial  policy  that  the  British 
government  found  to  be  mistaken  and  detrimental  to  military 
efficiency. 

In  American  munition  plants,  hastily  erected  or  expanded  to 
meet  the  heavy  demands,  workers  have  been  rushed  without  ade- 


APPENDIX  351 

quate  restrictions  on  hours  or  sufficient  protection  against  the 
hazards  of  accident  and  disease. 

Investigation  of  conditions  under  which  war  supplies  have  been 
manufactured  in  this  country  shows  a  breaking  down  of  restrictive 
standards. 

Women  VVoekebs  Threatened 

Women  are  particularly  affected.  It  has  been  found  that  in 
order  to  meet  the  demand  of  speed  and  a  large  output  of  muni- 
tions, women  have  been  working  long  hours  and  at  night;  and 
that  they  have  been  put  to  work  near  or  with  explosives  in  ways 
which  sometimes  mean  accident,  industrial  poisoning,  or  other 
illness. 

An  extensive  study  of  this  problem  in  ten  states,  including 
almost  all  the  munition  factories,  was  made  for  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  by  Dr.  Alice  Hamilton.  She  reports: 
"  Everything  that  was  needed  for  rapid  production  ivas  pushed; 
and  everything  that  was  needed  for  the  protection  of  the  workers 
was  postponed." 

This  backward  tendency  is  not  confined  to  munition  plants. 
It  has  been  manifested  in  other  connections.  For  instance,  on 
March  23,  1917,  the  New  York  State  Industrial  Commission  ex- 
empted the  Curtiss  Aeroplane  &  Motor  Corporation  from  the  one- 
day-rest-in-seven  law,  and  permitted  it  to  "  work  such  men  as  are 
exclusively  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  aeroplanes  and  aero- 
plane motors  seven  days  a  week,  and  as  many  hours  as  the 
employees  wish  for  a  period  of  six  months." 

Any  legal  exemptions  granted  for  extraordinary  emergencies 
should  be  only  for  the  briefest  possible  period  and  with  conditions 
stated  in  specific  form.  They  should  be  issued  only  after  official 
investigation,  due  notice,  and  public  hearing. 

A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  New  York  legislature  in  March, 
1917,  to  exclude  from  the  protective  provisions  of  the  labor  law 
with  regard  to  working  hours  all  women  and  minors  over  the  age 
of  sixteen  who  are  "  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  military  sup- 
plies of  any  sort  for  the  United  States  or  any  state."  That  bill, 
if  adopted,  icould  have  opened  the  way  for  the  unrestricted  labor 
of  women  and  children  over  sixteen.  There  are  indications  that 
similar  measures  dangerous  to  the  effectiveness  of  America's  in- 
dustrial mobilization  are  contemplated  elsewhere. 

LABOR'S  ATTITUDE  IN  AMERICA  TOWARD  THE  WAR 

Pledge  Given  to  Nation  by  American  Federation  of  Labor 

The  International  Socialist  Review,  April,   1917,  page  618. 

We,  the  officers  of  the  national  and  internationl  trades 
unions  of  America  in  national  conference  assembled,  in  the  capital 
of  our  nation,  hereby  pledge  ourselves  in  peace  or  in  war,  in 
stress  or  in  storm,  to  stand  unreservedly  by  the  standards  of 


352  APPENDIX 

liberty  and  the  safety  and  preservation  of  the  institutions  and 
ideals  of  our  republic. 

In  this  solemn  hour  of  our  nation's  life,  it  is  our  earnest  hope 
that  our  republic  may  be  safeguarded  in  its  unswerving  desire 
for  peace  that  our  people  may  be  spared  the  horrors  and  the 
burdens  of  war;  that  they  may  have  the  opportunity  to  cultivate 
and  develop  the  arts  of  peace,  human  brotherhood  and  a  higher 
civilization. 

But  despite  all  our  endeavors  and  hopes,  should  our  country  be 
drawn  into  the  maelstrom  of  the  European  conflict,  we,  with  these 
ideals  of  liberty  and  justice  herein  declared,  as  the  indispensable 
basis  for  national  policies,  oflfer  our  services  to  our  country  in 
every  field  of  activity  to  defend,  safeguard  and  preserve  the 
republic  of  the  United  States  of  America  against  its  enemies, 
whomsoever  they  may  be,  and  we  call  upon  our  fellow  workers 
and  fellow  citizens  in  the  holy  name  of  labor,  justice,  freedom 
and  humanity  to  devoutly  and  patriotically  give  like  service. 

A  Declaration  by  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World 

We,  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  in  convention  assem- 
bled, hereby  reaffirm  our  adherence  to  the  principles  of  Industrial 
Unionism,  and  rededicate  ourselves  to  the  unflinching  prosecu- 
tion of  the  struggle  for  the  abolition  of  wage  slavery,  and  the 
realization  of  our  ideals  in  Industrial  Democracy. 

With  the  European  war  for  conquest  and  exploitation  raging 
and  destroying  the  lives,  class  consciousness  and  unity  of  the 
workers,  and  the  ever  growing  ajjitation  for  military  prepared- 
ness clouding  the  main  issues,  and  delaying  the  realization  of 
our  ultimate  aim  with  patriotic,  and,  therefore,  capitalistic 
aspirations,  we  openly  declare  ourselves  determined  opponents 
of  all  nationalistic  sectionalism  or  patriotism,  and  the  militarism 
preached  and  supported  by  our  enemy,  the  Capitalist  Class. 
We  condemn  all  wars,  and,  for  the  prevention  of  such,  we 
proclaim  the  anti-militarist  propaganda  in  time  of  peace,  thus 
promoting  class  solidarity  among  the  workers  of  the  entire 
world,  and,  in  time  of  war,  the  general  strike  in  all  industries. 

We  extend  assurances  of  both  moral  and  material  support  to 
all  the  workers  who  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  Capitalist  Class 
for  their  adhesion  to  their  principles,  and  call  on  all  workers 
to  unite  themselves  with  us,  that  the  reign  of  the  exploiters 
may  cease  and  this  earth  be  made  fair  through  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Industrial   Democracy. 

OFFICIAL  JOURNALS  OF  INTERNATIONAL 
UNIONS 

B 
Bakers'  Journal — 

212  Bush  Temple  of  Music,  Chicago,  111. 
Barbers'  Journal — 

222  East  Michigan  street,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


APPENDIX  353 

Blacksmiths'  Journal — 

1270-85  Monon  building,  Chicago,  111. 
Boilermakers'  Journal — 

Law  building,  Kansas  City,  Kans. 
Bookbinder,  The  International— 

222  East  Michigan  street,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Brauerei  Arbeiter  Zeitung  (Brewery  Workers)  — 

2347-51   Vine   street,   Cincinnati,   Ohio. 
Bricklayer,  Mason  and  Plasterer — 

University  Park  building,   Indianapolis,   Ind. 
Bridgemen's  Magazine — 

American  Central  Life  building,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Broom   Maker — 

851  King  place,  Chicago. 
Buchdrucker  Zeitr.ng   (German  Typographical)  — 

Newton  Claypool  building,   Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Butcher  Workman — 

212  May  avenue,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

C 

Carpenter,  The — 

Carpenter's  building,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Cigarmakers'   Journal — 

Monon  building,  Chicago,  111. 
Cloth  Hat,   Cap  and  Millinery  Workers'  Journal — 

62  East  Fourth  street.  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Commercial  Telegraphers'  Journal — 

Transportation  building,  Chicago,  111. 
Coopers'  Journal — 

Bishop  building,  Kansas  City,  Kans. 

E 

Electrical  Worker — 

Reisch  building,  Springfield,  111. 
Elevator  Constructor — 

Sixteenth   and    Chestnut    streets,    Philadelphia,   Pa. 

F 
Flint,  The  American   (Flint  Glass  Workers)  — 

Ohio  building,  Toledo,  Ohio. 
Fur  Worker — 

132  Fourth  street.  Long  Island  City,  N.  Y. 

G 

Garment  Workers'  (United)   Weekly  Bulletin- 
Bible  House,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Glove  Workers'  Bulletin — 

166  West  Washington  street,  Chicago,  111. 

Granite  Cutters'  Journal — 

Hancock  building,  Quincy,  Mass. 


354  APPENDIX 

H 

Horseshoers'  Journal — 

Second  National  Bank  building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

I 

Iron,  Steel,  and  Tin  Workers'  Amalgamated  Journal — 
501  House  building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


Ladies'  Garment  Workers'  Journal — 

32  Union  Square,  New  York  City. 
Lather,  The— 

401  Superior  building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Leather  Workers'  Journal — 

504  Postal  building,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Lithographers'  Journal — 

309  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Locomotive  Engineers'  Journal — 

B.  of  L.  E.  building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Locomotive  Firemen  and  Enginemen's  Magazine- 
Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Longshoreman — 

702  Brisbane  building,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

M 
Machinists'  Journal — 

A.  F.  of  L.  building,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Maintenance-of-Way  Employes'  Advance  Advocate — 

27  Putnam  avenue,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Marine  Engineer,  The  American — 

113  Plume  street,  Norfolk,  Va. 
Metal  Polishers'  Journal — 

409  Neave  building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Mine  Workers'  Journal,  United  (Coal  Miners)  — 

1102-1109     Merchants'     National     Bank     building,     Indian- 
apolis, Ind. 
Miners'  Magazine    (Metal  Miners)  — 

Denham  building,  Denver  Col. 
Mixer  and  Server   (Bartenders  and  Hotel  Employes)  — 

Commercial-Tribune  building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Molders'  Journal,   International — 

Box  699,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Motorman  and  Conductor — 

104  East  High  street,  Detroit,  Mich. 

N 


National,  The    (Window  Glass  Workers)  — 
419  Electric  building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


APPENDIX  355 

p 

Painter  and  Decorator — 

Drawer  99,  Lafayette,  Ind. 
Paper  Makers'  Journal — 

127  North  Pearl  street,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Pattern  Makers'  Journal — 

Second  National  Bank  building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Paving  Cutters'  Journal — 

Lock  Box  27,  Albion,  N.  Y. 
Photo-Engraver,  The  American — 

6111  Bishop  street,  Chicago,  111. 
Plasterer — 

608  Washington  Bank  building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Plate  Printer  (Steel  and  Copper  Plate  Printers)  — 

414  Washington  Loan  and  Trust  Company  building,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 
Player,  The  (White  Rats  Actors'  Union)  — 

227  West  Forty-sixth  street.  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Journal — 

Bush  Temple  of  Music,  Chicago,  111. 
Potters'  Herald- 
West  Sixth  street.  East  Liverpool,  Ohio. 
Pressman,  The  American   (Printing  Pressmen  and  AssistantB)  — 

Rogersville,  Tenn. 

Q 

Quarry   Workers'   Journal — 
Box  394,  Barre,  Vt. 

R 

Railroad  Telegrapher — 

Star  building,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Railroad  Trainman — 

1207  American  Trust  building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Railway  Carmen's  Journal — 

508  Hall  building,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Railway  Clerk — 

Second  National  Bank  building,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Railway  Conductor — 

Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa. 
Retail  Clerks'  International  Advocate — 

Levering  building,  Main  street,  Lafayette,  Ind. 

S 
Seaman's  Journal,  Coast — 

59  Clay  street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Sheet  Metal  Workers'  Journal — 

407  Nelson  building,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Shoe  Workers'  Journal — 

246  Summer  street,  Boston,  Mass. 


356  APPENDIX 

stationary  Firemen's  Journal — 

3615  North  Twenty-fourth  street,  Omaha,  Neb. 
Steam  Engineer,  The  International — 

6334  Yale  avenue,  Chicago,  111. 
Steam  Shovel  and  Dredge — 

105   West  Monroe  street,  Chicago,  111. 
Stereotypers  and   Electrotypers'   Journal — 

2421  O  street,  Omaha,  Neb. 
Stone  Cutters'  Journal — 

American  Central  Life  building,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Stove  Mounters  and  Range  Workers'  Journal — 

1210  Jefferson  avenue.  East,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Switchmen's  Journal — 

326  Brisbane  building,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


Tailor,  The  (Journeyman  Tailors)  — 

Sixty-seventh  street  and  Stony  Island  avenue,  Chicago,  111. 
Teamsters,  Chauffeurs,  Stablemen  and  Helpers'  Magazine — 

222  East  Michigan  street,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Textile  Worker — 

86-87  Bible  House,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Tile  Layers  and  Helpers'  Journal — 

119  Federal  street,  N.  S.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Tobacco  Workers'  Journal — 

Iroquois  Life  building,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Travelers'  Goods  and  Novelty  Workers'  Bulletin— 

191  Boyd  street,  Oshkosh,  Wis. 
Typographical  Journal — 

Newton  Claypool  building,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

U 
Union  Leader,  The  (A.  A.  of  S.  and  E.  R.  E.  of  A)  — 

Unity  building,  127  North  Dearborn  street,  Chicago,  111. 
Union  Postal  Clerk — 

A.  F.  of  L.  building,  Washington,  D.  C. 

W 

Wood  Carver,  The  International — 

10  Carlisle  street,  Grove  Hall,  Boston,  Mass. 


LABOR  PAPERS 

Alabama. 
Birmingham — Labor  Advocate,  206  Title  Guarantee  building. 

Arizona 
Phoenix — The  Arizona  Labor  Journal,  238  East  Washington 
street. 


APPENDIX  357 

Arkansas. 

Fort  Smith — The  Union  Sentinel,  406  Garrison  avenue. 

Hot  Springs — Union  Labor  Advocate. 

Little  Rock — Union  Labor  Bulletin,  315  Scott  street. 

California. 

Bakersfield — Union  Labor  Journal,  Labor  Temple. 

El  Centro — Labor  Monitor. 

Eureka — The  Labor  News,  738  Second  street. 

Fresno — Labor  News. 

Los  Angeles — The  Citizen,  Union  Labor  Temple. 

Oakland — Alameda  County  Workman,  1121  Washington  street. 

Tri-City  Labor  Review,  812  Broadway. 

The  Western  Butcher,  634  Thirteenth  street. 
Sacramento — The  Tribune. 
San  Diego — Labor  Bulletin,  721  West  Market  street. 

The  Labor  Leader,  716  First  street. 
San  Francisco — Labor  Clarion,  Labor  Temple. 

Organized  Labor,  1122  Mission  street. 
San  Jos4— The  Union,  173  West  Santa  Clara  Street. 
Stockton — Labor  Review,  28  South  California  Street. 

Colorado. 

Colorado  Springs — Labor  News,  112  East  Cucharras  street. 
Denver — Denver  Labor  Bulletin,  Box  107. 
Pueblo — Labor  Advocate,  108  West  Second  street. 

Connecticut. 
Hartford — Labor  Standard,  284  Asylum  street. 
New  Haven — Connecticut  Labor  Press,  44  Crown  street. 

Delaware. 

Wilmington — Labor  Herald,  415  Shipley  street. 

District  of  Columbia. 

Washington — The  Federal  Employee,  A.  F.  of  L.  building. 
The  Trade  Unionist,  604  Fifth  street  northwest. 

Florida. 
Jacksonville — The  Artisan,  107  Clay  street. 
Miami — Labor  Journal,  916  Avenue  D. 
Tampa — The  Tampa  Citizen,  1110%  Franklin  street. 
Ybor  City,  Tampa — El  Internacional  (in  interest  of  local  Cigar- 
makers'  Union). 

Georgia. 
Atlanta — Journal  of  Labor,  929  Grant  building. 
Augusta — The  Labor  Review,  21  Campbell  building. 
Waycross — The  Labor  Index,  Southern  building. 


358  APPENDIX 

Idaho. 
Boise — The  Gem  Worker,  Ninth  and  Main  streets. 

Illinois. 
Aurora — The  Fox  River  Leader. 
Bloomington — The  Trades  Review. 

Chicago — Illinois  State  Federation  of  Labor  Weekly  News  Let- 
ter, 166  West  Washington  street. 

Life  and  Labor,  139  North  Clark  street. 
Danville — ^Labor  Leader,  109  East  Main  street. 
Decatur — Industrial  Union  News,  P.  O.  Box  293. 
East  St.  Louis — Illinois  Labor  Press,  210  Arcade  building. 
Galesburg — Labor  News,  56  North  Cherry  street. 
Joliet — The  Tribune,  Fargo  building. 
Ottawa — Illinois  Valley  Tradesman,  203  Claus  building. 
Peoria — Labor  Gazette,  225  North  Adams  street. 

Labor  News,  326  Harrison  street. 
Quincy — The  Labor  Advocate,  600  Hampshire  street. 
Rock  Island — Tri-City  Labor  Review,  Industrial  Home  building. 
Rockford — Labor  News. 
Springfield — Illinois  Tradesman,  407  Myers  building. 

Indiana 
Evansville — The  Advocate,  409  Sycamore  street. 
Fort  Wayne— The  Worker. 
Indianapolis — Indiana  Union  Herald,  45  United  building. 

The  Union,  69-70  When  building. 
Lafayette — Labor  News,  Box  75. 
Richmond — Labor  Herald,   14   South   Seventh  street. 
South  Bend — The  Inter  urban  Journal. 
Whiting — Lake  County  Labor  Advocate. 

The  Suburban. 

Iowa. 

Boone — The  Independent,  810  Story  street. 

Cedar  Rapids — The  Tribune,  210  Third  avenue. 

Des  Moines — Iowa  Unionist,  221  Youngerman  building. 

Dubuque — Labor  Leader,  Main  and  Sixth  streets. 

Lyons — Tri-City  Labor  Voice,  Box  96. 

Marshalltown — Marshalltown  Bulletin. 

Muscatine — Labor's  Voice,  Box  2. 

Sioux  City — ^The  Union  Advocate,  410  Fifth  street. 

Kansas. 
Topeka — Kansas  Trade  Unionist,  113  East  Eighth  street. 

Kentucky. 

Louisville — Journal  of  Labor,  321  West  Green  street. 
New  Era,  130  Third  avenue. 


APPENDIX  359 

Louisiana. 

Gretna — Labor  Advocate,  Second  and  Lavoisier  streets. 
New  Orleans — Labor  Record,  320  St.  Charles  street. 

Maryland. 

Baltimore — Labor  Leader,  Baltimore  and  North  streets. 
Trades  Unionist,  Knickerbocker  building. 

Massachusetts. 

Boston — Union  Trades  Label,  79  Sudberry  street. 
Brockton — The  Diamond,  74  Commercial  street. 
Holyoke — The  Artisan,  214  Maple  street. 
Worcester — The  Labor  News,  48  Southbridge  street. 

Michigari. 
Bay  City— The  Industrial  Herald,  309  Ninth  street. 
Detroit — Labor  News,  Griswold  and  Lamed  streets. 
Grand  Rapids — The  Observer,  112  Louis  street. 
Jackson — Square  Deal,  145  West  Pearl  street. 
Lansing — Michigan  Unionist,  211  Prudden  building. 

Minnesota. 

Duluth — Labor  World,  610  Manhattan  building. 
Minneapolis — Labor  Review,  420  Sixth  street,  south. 
St.  Paul — Minnesota  Union  Advocate. 

Missouri. 
Hannibal — The  Labor  Press. 

Joplin — Joplin  Labor  Tribune,  827  Main  street. 
Kansas  City — Labor  Herald,  408  Admiral  boulevard. 
Saint  Joseph — The  Saint  Joseph  Union. 
Sedalia — Railway  Federationist. 
Springfield — The  Springfield  Laborer. 

Montana 

Billings — ^Yellowstone  Labor  News,  Babcock  block. 
Butte — The  Free  Lance,  114  East  Broadway. 

Nebraska. 

Lincoln — The  Nebraska  Federationist. 
Omaha — Omaha  Unionist,  332  Brandeis  Theater  building. 
Western  Laborer,  502  Barker  block. 

Nevada. 

Reno — ^Nevada  Federationist,  212  Virginia  street. 

New  Hampshire. 

Manchester — The  New  Hampshire  Worker. 


360  APPENDIX 

New  Jersey. 

Jersey  City — Labor  Review  of  Hudson  County,  2277  Boulevard. 
Newark — tjnion  Labor  Bulletin,  68  South  Orange  avenue. 
Perth  Amboy — The  Labor  News  Weekly. 
Trenton — Trades  Union  Advocate,  Box  529. 

New  York. 

Albany — Albany  Federationist,  223  Arkay  building. 

Official  Record,  45  Second  street. 
Auburn — Labor  Weekly,  22  North  street. 
Buffalo— The  Labor  World,  626  Ellicott  Square. 
Newburgh — Orange  County  Workman. 

New  York  City — New  York  Union  Printer,  8  Reade  street, 
Rochester — Labor  Herald,  421  Cox  building. 
Schenectady — The  Empire  State  Leader. 
Syracuse — Industrial  Weekly. 
Troy — Legislative  Labor  News,  399  River  street. 
Yonkers — The  Workman,  63  Main  street. 

North  Carolina. 

Asheville — Labor  Advocate. 
Greensboro — The  State  Labor  News. 

Ohio. 
Akron — The  People,  21   South  Main  street. 
Canton — The  Union  Reporter. 
Cincinnati — The  Chronicle,  1311  Walnut  street. 

The  Labor  Advocate,  20  Thorns  building. 
Cleveland — The  Cleveland  Citizen,  1125  Oregon  avenue,  north- 
east. 

Cleveland  Federationist,  716  Vincent  avenue. 
Columbus — Labor  News,  165%  North  High  street. 
Dayton — The  Labor  Review,  32  South  Jefferson  street. 
Hamilton — Butler  County  Press,  326  Market  street. 
Springfield— The  Tribune,  138  West  High  street. 
Toledo — Union  Leader,  Central  Labor  Union  hall. 
Youngstown — Labor  Record,  211  K.  of  C.  building. 
Zanesville — Labor  Journal,  Sixth  and  South  streets. 

Oklahoma. 

Oklahoma  City — Oklahoma  Federationist. 

Oregon. 
Portland — Oregon  Labor  Press. 

Pennsylvania. 

Allentown — The  Labor  Herald. 
Beaver — Beaver  Valley  Labor  News. 


APPENDIX  361 

Pennsylvania   ( Cont. ) 
Coaldale— The  Toilers'  Defense,  20-24  East  street. 
Easton — Easton  Journal,  234  Church  street. 
Erie — Union  Labor  Journal. 
Lancaster — Labor  Leader,  38  Market  street. 
Philadelphia — Trades  Union  News,  619  Filbert  street. 
Pittsburgh — National  Labor  Journal,  Union  Labor  Temple. 
Pittston — Industrial   Advocate. 
Uniontown — The  Working  World. 

South   Carolina. 
Charleston — The  Charleston  Review,  50  Queen  street. 
Greenville — Labor  Press,  307  Westfield  street. 

Tennessee. 
Chattanooga — Labor  World,  735   Chestnut  street. 
Knoxville — Voice  of  Labor,  208  Empire  building. 
Memphis — Transportation  and  Labor  Review,  Southern  Express 

building. 
Nashville — Labor  Advocate,  335^  Third  avenue,  north. 

I'exas. 
Austin — The  Austin  Forum,  204  West  Sixth  street. 
Dallas— The  Craftsman,  18021^  Jackson  street. 

The  Toiler,  Labor  Temple. 
Denison — Labor  Journal,  331  West  Main  street. 
El  Paso — Labor  Advocate,  409  Texas  street. 
Forth  Worth — Union  Banner. 

Texas  Railway  Journal,  Box  155. 
Galveston — Labor  Dispatch,  212  Tremont  street. 
Houston — Houston  Labor  Journal. 

Texas  Carpenter. 
Port  Arthur — Port  Arthur-Beaumont  Labor  Dispatch. 
San  Antonio — The  Weekly  Dispatch,  Trades  Council  hall. 
Temple — The  Wage  Earner. 

Waco — The  Union  Standard,  415  Washington  street. 
Wichita  Falls — The  Union  Leader. 

Utah. 

Salt  Lake  City — Utah  Labor  News,  Labor  Temple. 
Virginia. 

Richmond — The   Railroader,   Campbell   avenue   and   Commerce 
street. 
The  Square  Deal,  Old  Dominion  Trust  building. 
Roanoke — Industrial  Era,   101   Commerce  street. 

Washington. 
Bellingham — Labor  Unionist,  1307  Twelfth  street. 
Everett — The  Labor  Journal,  Labor  Temple. 


362  APPENDIX 

Washington  (Cont.) 
Hoquiam — Southwest  Washington  Labor  Press,   Box  98. 
Seattle — Union  Record,  Labor  Temple. 
Spokane — Labor  World,  311  Sprague  avenue. 
Tacoma — Labor  Advocate,  P.  O.  Box  1223. 
Walla  Walla — Garden  City  Monitor,  5%  East  Main  street. 

West  Virginia. 

Charlestown — The  West  Virginia  Federationist,  P.  O.  Box  1106. 
Wheeling — The  Wheeling  Majority,  1506  Market  street. 

Wisconsin. 
Marinette — The  Twin  City  Laborer. 
Racine — Labor  Advocate,  428  Wisconsin  street. 

Wyoming. 
Cheyenne — Wyoming  Labor  Journal. 

AUSTBALIA 

New  South  Wales. 

Sydney — The  Co-operator. 
The  Australian  Worker. 

New  Zealand. 

Wellington — The  Maoriland  Worker. 

Queensland. 
Brisbane — The  Worker. 

Victoria. 
Melbourne — The  Labor  Call. 

Canada 
British  Columbia. 
Vancouver — The  B.  C.  Federationist,  Labor  Temple. 

Manitoba. 

Winnipeg — The  Voice,  211  Rupert  street. 

Ontario. 

Hamilton — Labor  News,  48  Market  street. 

The  Barber,  48  Market  street. 
Ottawa — The  Canadian  Plate  Printer,  76  Preston  street. 
Toronto — Industrial  Banner,  Labor  Temple. 

Quebec. 

Montreal — The  Labor  World   (Le  Monde  Ouvier),  2  St.  Paul 
street,  east. 


APPENDIX  363 

England 

Leicester — Monthly  Report  of  National  Union  of  Boot  and  Shoe 

Operatives. 
Manchester — The  Cotton  Factory  Times. 
Typographical  Circular. 

PoBTO  Rico 
San  Juan — Justicia. 

Scotland 
Glasgow — Associated  Iron  Moulders  of  Scotland  Monthly  Report. 


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Economic  Development  of  Modern  Europe. 
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